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SOUTH  KENSINGTON  MUSEUM  ART  HANDBOOKS. 

Edited  by  WILLIAM  MASKELL. 

NO'  2 -IVORIES  ANCIENT  AND  MEDI^^VAL. 


These  Handbooks  are  reprints  of  the  dissertations  prefixed  to  the 
large  catalogues  of  the  chief  divisions  of  works  of  art  in  the  Museum 
at  South  Ke7isington ;  arranged  and  so  far  abridged  as  to  bring  each 
into  a  portable  shape.  The  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Council  on 
E  dticatiofi  haviftg  determined  on  the  ptiblication  of  them,  the  editor 
trusts  that  they  will  meet  the  purpose  intended;  namely,  to  be  useful, 
not  alone  for  the  collections  at  South  Kensington,  but  for  other  collec- 
tions by  enabling  the  public  at  a  trifling  cost  to  understand  sojuething 
of  the  history  and  character  of  the  subjects  treated  of 

The  authorities  referred  to  in  each  book  are  given  in  the  large 

catalogues  J  where  will  also  be  found  detailed  descriptions  of  the  very 

numerotis  examples  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum. 

W.  M. 
August,  1875. 


IVORIES 

ANCIENT     AND     MEDIEVAL. 


BY 


WILLIAM     MASKELL. 


WITH    NUMEROUS    WOODCUTS. 


Published  for  the  Committee  of  Cotincil  on  Education 

BY 

SCRIBNER,    WELFORD,    AND    ARMSTRONG, 

NEW   YORK. 
1876. 


/^9fi<i73. 


ARTS 


LIST    OF    WOODCUTS. 


PAGE 

Prehistoric  carving 

9 

Esquimaux  carving 

9 

Prehistoric  carving  in  relief 

lO 

,,               ,,       in  outline 

II 

,,               ,,       of  the  Mammoth 

II 

Angel ;  end  of  fourth  century 

...      36 

Vase  ;.  end  of  sixth  century 

...      46 

Book  cover;  Carlovingian 

...      49 

Panel  of  an  English  casket ;  eighth  century 

-      53 

Another  panel  of  the  same 

...       54 

St.  Peter's  chair 

...      56 

Spanish  Moresque  panel 

-      57 

Coffer  painted  with  medallions      ... 

,..      59 

Open-work  ;  two  small  panels 

64 

Italian  marriage  coffer  ... 

...      64 

Part  of  a  Predella,  in  bone            ...             ... 

...      66 

Cover  of  a  box,  with  Morris  Dancers 

...      68 

English  comb;  eleventh  century  ... 

...      7o 

Italian  comb;  sixteenth  century    ... 

71 

Mirror  case  ;  fourteenth  century    ... 

74 

Another                 „     ^       „ 

75 

VIH 


IVORIES. 


PAGE 

Chessman ;  twelfth  century           ?;.            ...            ...            ...  ...  80 

,,           thirteenth  century       ...             ...             ...             ...  ...  81 

Arm  of  a  chair;  eleventh  century               ...             ...            ...  ...  82 

Two  groups  of  chessmen,  found  in  the  island  of  Lewis            ...  ...  83 

The  volute  of  a  pastoral  staff ;  thirteenth  century      ...             ...  ...  87 

„            „            „            English;  twelfth  century       ...  ...  90 

One  leaf  of  a  diptych  in  very  high  relief;  fourteenth  centuiy  ...  ...  100 

Group,  a  Pieta  ;  late  fourteenth  century      ...             ...              ..  ...  103 

Painter  at  work  on  a  statuette       ...             ...             ...             ...  ...  105 

Chaplet  and  beads  ;  and  girdle,  with  ivory  clasps     ...             ...  ...  112 

Horn;  fifteenth  century                 ...             ...             ...             ...  ...  113 

Two  panels  in  open-work  ;  fourteenth  century           ...             ...  ...  115 

Panel  in  minute  open-work            ...             ...             ...             ...  ...  115 

Leaf  of  diptych,  executed  for  bishop  Grandison  ;  fourteenth  century    ...  117 


IVORIES 


ANCIENT     AND    MEDIEVAL. 


CHAPTER   I. 


Every  description  or  account  of  Carvings  in  Ivory  ought  to 
include  similar  carvings  in  bone,  of  which  last  many  remarkable 
examples  are  to  be  found  in  the  South  Kensington  and  other 
museums.  The  rarity  and  value  of  ivory  frequently  obliged 
workmen  to  use  the  commoner  and  less  costly  material. 

In  the  strictest  sense,  no  substance  except  the  tusk  of  the 
elephant  presents  the  characteristic  of  true  ivory,  which,  "  now, 
according  to  the  best  anatomists  and  physiologists,  is  restricted 
to  that  modification  of  dentine  or  tooth  substance  Avhich,  in 
transverse  sections  or  fractures,  shows  lines  of  different  colours 
or  striee  proceeding  in  the  arc  of  a  circle,  and  forming  by  their 
decussations  minute  curvilinear  lozenge-shaped  spaces."  Upon 
this  subject  the  reader  should  consult  a  valuable  paper,  read  by 
professor  Owen,  before  the  Society  of  Arts,  in  1856,  and  printed 
in  their  journal. 

But,  besides  the  elephant,  other  animals  furnish  what  may 
also  be  not  improperly  called  ivory.     Such  as  the  walrus,  the 

B 


2  IVORIES. 

narwhal,  and  the  hippopotamus.  The  employment  of  walrus 
ivory  has  ceased  among  southern  European  nations  for  a  long 
time  ;  and  carvings  in  the  tusks  of  that  animal  are  chiefly  to  be 
found  among  remains  of  the  mediseval  and  Carlovingian  periods. 
In  those  ages  it  was  largely  used  by  nations  of  Scandinavian 
origin  and  in  England  and  Germany.  The  people  of  the  north 
were  then  unable  to  obtain  and  may  not  even  have  heard  of  the 
existence  of  true  elephant  ivory.  In  quality  and  beauty  of 
appearance  walrus  ivory  scarcely  yields  to  that  of  the  elephant. 

Sir  Frederick  Madden  tells  us,  in  a  communication  published  in 
the  Archseologia,  that  ''  in  the  reign  of  Alfred,  about  a.d.  890, 
Ohtere,  the  Norwegian,  visited  England,  and  gave  an  account  to 
the  king  of  his  voyage  in  pursuit  of  these  animals,  chiefly  on 
account  of  their  teeth.  The  author  of  the  Xongs-Skugg-sio,  or 
Speculum  Regale  (composed  in  the  12th  century),  takes  particular 
notice  of  the  walrus  and  of  its  teeth.  Olaus  Magnus,  in  the  1 5th 
century,  tells  us  that  sword-handles  were  made  from  them  ;  and, 
somewhat  later,  Olaus  Wormius  writes,  '  the  Icelanders  are 
accustomed,  during  the  long  nights  of  winter,  to  cut  out  various 
articles  from  these  teeth.  This  is  more  particularly  the  case  in 
regard  to  chess  men.'  "  Olaus  Wormius  speaks  in  another  place 
of  rings  against  the  cramp,  handles  of  swords,  javelins,  and 
knives. 

There  is  still  another  kind  of  real  ivory — the  fossil  ivory — 
w^iich  is  now  extensively  used  in  many  countries,  although  it  may 
be  difficult  to  decide  whether  it  was  known  to  the  ancients  or  to 
mediaeval  carvers.  In  prehistoric  ages  a  true  elephant,  says 
professor  Owen,  "  roamed  in  countless  herds  over  the  temperate 
and  northern  parts  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  America."  This  was 
the  mammoth,  the  extinct  Elephas  primigenius.  The  tusks  of 
these  animals  are  found  in  great  quantities  in  the  frozen  soil  of 
Siberia,  along  the  banks  of  the  larger  rivers.  Almost  the  whole 
of  the  ivory  turner's  work  in  Russia  is  from  Siberian  fossil  ivory, 
and  the  story  of  the  entire  mammoth  discovered  about   half  a 


IVORIES.  3 

century  ago  embedded  in  ice  is  well  known  to  every  one. 
Although  commonly  called  fossil,  this  ivory  has  not  undergone 
the  change  usually  understood  in  connection  with  the  term  fossil, 
for  their  substance  is  as  well  adapted  for  use  as  the  ivory  procured 
from  living  species. 

With  regard  to  the  tusks  of  elephants,  African  and  Asiatic 
ivory  must  be  distinguished.  The  first,  "  when  recently  cut,  is 
of  a  mellow,  warm,  transparent  tint,  with  scarcely  any  appearance 
of  grain,  in  which  state  it  is  called  transparejit  or  green  ivory ;  but, 
as  the  oil  dries  up  by  exposure  to  the  air,  it  becomes  lighter  in 
colour.  Asiatic  ivory,  when  newly  cut,  appears  more  like  the 
African,  which  has  been  long  exposed  to  the  air,  and  tends  to 
become  yellow  by  exposure.  The  African  variety  has  usually  a 
closer  texture,  works  harder,  and  takes  a  better  polish  than  the 
Asiatic."  It  would  be  mere  guessing  to  attempt  to  decide  the 
original  nature  of  ancient  or  mediaeval  ivories.  Time  has  equally 
hardened  and  changed  the  colour  of  both  kinds,  whether  African 
or  Asiatic. 

We  cannot  easily  suggest  any  way  in  which  the  very  large  slabs 
or  plaques  of  ivory  used  by  the  early  and  mediasval  artists  were 
obtained.  The  leaves  of  a  diptych  of  the  seventh  century,  in  the 
public  library  at  Paris,  are  fifteen  inches  in  length  by  nearly  six 
inches  wide.  In  the  British  museum  is  a  single  piece  which 
measures  in  length  sixteen  inches  and  a  quarter  by  more  than  five 
inches  and  a  half  in  width,  and  in  depth  more  than  half  an  inch. 
By  some  it  is  thought  that  the  ancients  knew  a  method,  which 
has  been  lost,  of  bending,  softening,  and  flattening  solid  pieces  ot 
ivory  ;  others  suppose  that  they  were  then  able  to  procure  larger 
tusks  than  can  be  got  from  the  degenerate  animal  of  our  own 
day.  Mr.  McCulloch,  in  his  dictionary  of  commerce,  tells  us  that 
60  lbs.  is  the  average  weight  of  an  elephant's  tusk  ;  but.Holtzapffel, 
a  practical  authority,  declares  this  to  be  far  too  high,  and  that 
15  or  16  lbs,  would  be  nearer  the  average.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
pieces  of  the  size  above  mentioned  (and  larger  specimens  probably 


4  IVORIES. 

exist)  could  not  be  cut  from  the  biggest  of  the  tusks  preserved  in 
the  South  Kensington  museum ;  although  it  weighs  90  lbs.,  is 
eight  feet  eleven  inches  long,  and  sixteen  inches  and  a  half  in 
circumference  at  the  centre.  This  tusk  is  the  largest  of  five  which 
were  presented  to  the  Queen  by  the  king  of  Shoa  about  the  year 
1856,  and  given  by  Her  Majesty  to  the  museum.  The  other  four 
weigh,  respectively,  76  lbs.,  86  lbs.,  72  lbs.,  and  52  lbs.  They  are 
all,  probably,  male  tusks.  An  enormous  pair  of  tusks,  weighing 
together  325  lbs.,  was  shown  in  the  Great  Exhibition  of  185 1  ;  but 
these,  heavy  as  they  were,  measured  only  eight  feet  six  inches  in 
length,  and  did  not  exceed  twenty-two  inches  in  circumference  at 
the  base. 

An  ingenious  mode  of  explaining  how  the  great  chryselephan- 
tine statues  of  Phidias  and  other  Greek  sculptors  were  made,  is 
proposed  and  fully  explained  in  detail  by  Quatremere  De  Quincy 
in  his  work  on  the  art  of  antique  sculpture.  He  gives  several 
plates  in  ilkistration,  more  particularly  Plate  XXIX. ;  but  none  of 
them  meet  the  difficulty  of  the  large  flat  plaques.  The  natural 
form  of  a  tusk  would  adapt  itself  easily,  so  far  as  regards  the  appli- 
cation of  pieces  of  very  considerable  size,  to  the  round  parts  of  the 
human  figure. 

Mr.  Hendrie,  in  his  notes  to  the  third  book  of  the  "  Schedula 
diversarum  artiuni "  of  Theophilus,  says  that  the  ancients  had  a 
method  of  softening  and  bending  ivory  by  immersion  in  different 
solutions  of  salts  in  acid.  "  Eraclius  has  a  chapter  on  this.  Take 
sulphate  of  potass,  fossil  salt,  and  vitriol ;  these  are  ground  with 
very  sharp  vinegar  in  a  brass  mortar.  Into  this  mixture  the  ivory  is 
placed  for  three  days  and  nights.  This  being  done,  you  will 
hollow  out  a  piece  of  wood  as  you  please.  The  ivory  being  thus 
placed  in  the  hollow  you  direct  it,  and  will  bend  it  to  your  will." 
The  same  writer  gives  another  recipe  from  the  Sloane  manuscript 
(of  15th  century),  no.  416.  This  directs  that  the  ingredients 
above  mentioned  "  are  to  be  distilled  in  equal  parts,  which  would 
yield  muriatic  acid,  with  the  presence  of  water.     Infused  in  this 


IVORIES.  5 

water  half  a  day,  ivory  can  be  made  so  soft  that  it  can  be  cut  hke 
wax.  And  when  you  wish  it  hardened,  place  it  in  white  vinegar 
and  it  becomes  hard." 

Sir  Digby  Wyatt,  in  a  lecture  read  before  the  Arundel  society, 
quotes  these  methods  from  Mr.  Hendrie  and  adds  another  from 
an  English  manuscript  of  the  12th  century  :  "  Place  the  ivory  in 
the  following  mixture.  Take  two  parts  of  quick  lime,  one  part  of 
pounded  tile,  one  part  of  oil,  and  one  part  of  torn  tow.  Mix  up 
all  these  with  a  lye  made  of  elm  bark."  These  various  recipes 
have  been  tried  in  modern  days,  and  the  experiments,  hitherto, 
have  completely  failed. 

Considerable  variety  of  colour  will  be  observed  in  the  various 
pieces  of  any  large  collection,  and  much  difference  in  the  con- 
dition of  them.  Some,  far  from  being  the  most  ancient,  are 
greatly  discoloured  and  brittle  in  appearance ;  others  retain  their 
colour  almost  in  its  original  purity  and  their  perfect  firmness  of 
texture,  seemingly  unaffected  by  the  long  lapse  of  time.  The 
innumerable  possible  accidents  to  which  carved  ivories  may  have 
been  exposed  from  age  to  age  will  account  for  this  great  differ- 
ence, and  a  happy  forgetfulness,  perhaps  owing  to  a  contemptuous 
neglect  at  first  of  their  value  and  importance,  may  have  been  the 
cause  of  the  comparatively  excellent  state  and  condition  of  many. 
Laid  aside  in  treasuries  of  churches  and  monasteries,  or  put  away 
in  the  chests  and  cupboards  of  great  houses,  the  memory  even  of 
their  existence  may  have  passed  away  for  century  after  century. 

It  does  not  appear  that  any  good  method  is  known  by  which  a 
discoloured  ivory  can  be  bleached.  All  rough  usage  of  course 
merely  injures  the  piece  itself,  and  removes  the  external  surface. 
Exposure  to  the  light  keeps  the  original  whiteness  longer, 
and  in  a  few  instances  may  to  some  extent  restore  it.  It  need 
hardly  be  observed  that  any  other  attempt  to  alter  the  existing 
condition,  whatever  it  may  be,  as  regards  the  colour  of  an  antique 
or  mediaeval  ivory  is  to  be  condemned. 

It  is  quite  a  different  matter  to  endeavour  to  preserve  works  in 


6  IVORIES. 

ivory  which  have  suffered  partial  decomposition,  and  which  can  be 
kept  from  utter  destruction  only  by  some  kind  of  artificial  treat- 
ment. Almost  all  the  fragments  sent  to  England  by  Mr.  Layard 
from  Nineveh  were  in  this  state  of  extreme  fragility  and  decay. 
Professor  Owen  suggested  that  they  should  be  boiled  in  a  solution 
of  gelatine.  The  experiment  was  tried  and  found  to  be  sufficiently 
effectual ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  present  success  will  prove 
to  be  lasting.  "  Since  the  fragments  have  been  in  England,"  says 
Mr.  Layard,  ''  they  have  been  admirably  restored  and  cleaned. 
The  glutinous  matter,  by  which  the  particles  forming  the  ivory  are 
kept  together,  had,  from  the  decay  of  centuries,  been  completely 
exhausted.  By  an  ingenious  process  it  has  been  restored,  and  the 
ornaments,  which  on  their  discovery  fell  to  pieces  almost  upon 
mere  exposure  to  the  air,  have  regained  the  appearance  and  con- 
sistency of  recent  ivory,  and  may  be  handled  without  risk  of 
injury." 

We  may  think  it  to  be  sufiiciently  strange  in  tracing  the  early 
history  of  the  art  of  carving  or  engraving  in  ivory,  that  we  should 
be  able  easily  to  carry  it,  upon  the  evidence  of  extant  examples, 
to  an  antiquity  long  before  the  Christian  era :  through  the  Roman, 
Greek,  Assyrian,  and  Jewish  people,  up  to  an  age  anterior  to  the 
origin  of  those  nations  by  centuries,  the  number  of  which  it  may 
be  difficult  accurately  to  count.  These  very  ancient  examples  are 
of  the  earliest  Egyptian  dynasties  :  yet,  between  them  and  the 
date  of  the  earliest  now  known  specimens  of  works  of  art  incised 
or  carved  in  ivory  there  is  a  lapse  of  time  so  great  that  it  may 
probably  be  numbered  by  thousands  of  years. 

We  must  go  back  to  prehistoric  man  for  the  proof  of  this  ; 
to  a  period  earlier  than  the  age  of  iron  or  of  bronze ;  to  the 
first — the  drift — period  of  the  stone  age.  We  must  go  back,  as 
Sir  John  Lubbock  writes,  "  to  a  time  so  remote  that  the  reindeer 
was  abundant  in  the  south  of  France,  and  probably  even  the 
mammoth  had  not  entirely  disappeared."  Lartet  and  Christy 
also    (in   their   valuable   publication,    the  Reliquiae  Aquitanicce) 


IVORIES.  7 

make  a  like  remark :  "  It  rests  with  the  geologist,  by  indicating 
the  changes  which  have  occurred  in  the  very  land  itself,  to 
shadow  out  the  period  in  the  dim  distance  of  that  far  antiquity 
when  these  implements,  the  undoubted  work  of  human  hands, 
were  used  and  left  there  by  primaeval  man." 

Within  the  last  few  years,  in  caves  at  Le  Moustier  and  at 
La  Madelaine  in  the  Dordogne,  numerous  fragments  have  been 
found  of  tusks  of  the  mammoth  and  of  reindeer's  bone  and  horn, 
on  some  of  which  are  incised  drawings  of  various  animals,  and 
upon  others  similar  representations  carved  in  low  relief.  These 
objects  have  been  engraved  in  several  works  by  geologists  and 
writers  upon  the  important  questions  relating  to  prehistoric 
people  ;  and  copies  of  them  may  be  found  in  Sir  John  Lubbock's 
book,  *'  The  origin  of  Civilization,"  already  quoted  from.  Among 
them  are  drawings  and  carvings  of  fish,  of  a  snake,  of  an  ibex,  of 
a  man  carrying  a  spear,  of  a  mammoth,  of  horses'  heads,  and  of  a 
group  of  reindeer. 

Sir  John  Lubbock  describes  these  works  as  showing  "  really 
considerable  skill ; "  as  "being  very  fair  drawings;"  as  the  pro- 
ductions of  men  to  whom  we  must  give  "  full  credit  for  their  love 
of  art,  such  as  it  was."  But  to  speak  of  them  in  words  so  cold  is 
less  than  justice.  No  one  can  examine  the  few  fragments  which 
as  yet  have  been  discovered  without  acknowledging  their  merit, 
and  attributing  them  to  what  may  very  truly  be  called  the  hand  of 
an  artist.  There  can  be  no  mistake  for  a  moment  as  to  many  of 
the  beasts  which  are  represented. 

Again  :  the  sculptor  has  given  us,  in  a  spirited  and  natural 
manner,  more  than  one  characteristic  quality  of  his  subject  :  and 
we  can  recognise  the  heaviness  and  sluggishness  of  the  mammoth 
as  easily  as  the  grace  and  activity  of  the  reindeer.  The  results  of 
the  workman's  labour  are  not  like  the  elephants  and  camels  and 
lions  of  a  child's  Noah's  ark — merely  bodies  with  heads  and  four 
legs — but  they  are  executed  with  the  right  feeling  and  in  an 
artistic  spirit :  the  animals  are  carefully  drawn,  and  often  with 


8  IVORIES. 

much  vigour.  There  is  nothing  conventional  about  them  ;  they 
are  far  beyond  and  utterly  different  in  style  from  the  ugly  attempts 
of  really  civilised  people,  such  as  the  Peruvians  or  Mexicans,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  works  of  the  savages  of  Africa  or  New  Zealand. 
They  are  true  to  nature. 

The  aboriginal  nations  of  North  and  South  America  must  cer- 
tainly be  spoken  of  as  civilised,  though  it  is  curious  to  remember 
how  great  authorities  seem  to  differ  as  to  what  civilisation  means. 
Macaulay,  in  his  Life  of  lord  Clive,  writing  with  a  recklessness  of 
statement  not  unusual  with  him  when  aiming  at  some  picturesque 
contrast,  describes  the  ancient  Mexicans  as  "  savages  who  had  no 
letters,  who  were  ignorant  of  the  use  of  metals,  who  had  not  broken 
in  a  single  animal  to  labour,  and  who  wielded  no  better  weapons 
than  those  which  could  be  made  out  of  sticks,  flints,  and  fish- 
bones, and  who  regarded  a  horse-soldier  as  a  monster."  But 
Bernal  Diaz,  whose  report  as  an  eye-witness  has  stood  the  test 
of  years  of  later  investigation  and  dispute,  describes  the  appear- 
ance of  the  great  cities  from  without  as  like  the  enchanted  castles 
of  romance,  and  full  of  great  towers  and  temples.  And  within, 
"  every  kind  of  eatable,  every  form  of  dress,  medicines,  perfumes, 
unguents,  furniture,  lead,  copper,  gold,  and  silver  ornaments 
wrought  in  the  form  of  fruit,  adorned  the  porticoes  and  allured  the 
passer-by.  Paper,  that  great  material  of  civilisation,  was  to  be 
obtained  in  this  wonderful  emporium  ;  also  every  kind  of  earthen- 
ware, cotton  of  all  colours  in  skeins,  &c.  There  were  officers  who 
went  continually  about  the  market-place,  watching  what  was  sold, 
and  the  measures  which  were  used." 

If  we  are  to  take  the  judgment  of  Lord  Macaulay  as  our  guide 
in  determining  what  may  be  true  civilisation,  we  must  set  down 
the  Greeks  in  the  reign  of  Alexander,  or  the  Italians  in  the  days 
of  Leo  the  tenth,  as  "  savages,"  because  they  were  ignorant  of  the 
electric  telegraph  ;  or  ourselves  now,  because  \ve  cannot  guide 
balloons  through  the  air. 

The  sculptures  and  works  of  art  in  the  ruined  cities  of  Yucatan 


IVORIES.  9 

are  also  to  be  thought  of.  Many  engravings  of  them  are  given 
in  Stephens's  central  America. 

Nor  is  it  enough  to  say  that  the  prehistoric  carvings  are 
merely  true  to  nature.  Their  merit  is  clearly  seen  when  com- 
pared with  the  plates  of  Indian  drawings  and  picture  writings 
in  Schoolcraft's  history  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  United  States : 
or  again,  of  a  different  character  altogether,  the  illuminations  in 
Indian  and  Persian  manuscripts.  In  some  respects  these  last  are 
of  the  highest  quality  as  regards  execution,  but  the  animals  are 
generally  drawn  in  a  manner  purely  conventional,  with  scant  feeling 
of  truth  or  beauty,  and  little  power  of  expressing  it. 

In  short,  the  prehistoric  carvings  are  from  the  hands  of  men  who 
were  neither  beginners  nor  blunderers  in  their  art.     The  practised 


skill  of  a  modern  wood  engraver  would  scarcely  exceed  in  firmness 
and  decision,  nor  in  evident  rapidity  of  execution,  the  outline  of 
the  animals  in  the  example  which  is  here  engraved. 


Other  illustrations  are  given  in  order  that  the  reader  may 
compare  them,  and  more  especially  those  also  just  referred  to 


lO 


IVORIES. 


above,  with  a  woodcut  (on  preceding  page)  of  drawings  incised  upon 
bone  by  Esquimaux  of  our  own  days.  This  has  been  chosen 
because  there  seems  to  be  a  general  disposition,  in  the  way  of 
theory,  to  compare  the  dwellers  in  the  caves  of  Dordogne  and 
the  men  of  the  stone  age  with  the  Esquimaux,  and  to  limit,  as  it 
were,  the  unknown  amount  of  civilisation  in  the  one  by  what  we 
have  learnt  from  our  own  experience  of  the  latter.  Yet,  so  far  as 
the  drawings  and  the  sculptures  are  concerned,  there  is  scarcely 
room  for  comparison.  The  work  of  the  stone  age  is  that  of  a 
people  with  whom,  if  they  were  in  all  other  respects  savages,  we 
have  no  modern  parallel.  The  work  of  the  Esquimaux  is  that  of 
men  who  imitate  with  the  hand  of  a  child,  and  the  success  or 
power  of  whose  imitation  ranges  exactly  with  their  advance  and 
culture  (if  culture  it  may  be  called)  in  other  arts. 


The  first  of  these  illustrations  is  perhaps  the  best,  as  it  is 
certainly  the  most  delicate  and  graceful  of  all  the  fragments  yet 
discovered.  It  represents  the  profile  of  the  head  and  shoulder 
of  an  ibex,  carved  in  low  relief  upon  a  piece  of  the  palm  of  a 
reindeer's  antler.  So  exact  and  well  characterised  is  the  sculpture, 
that  naturalists  have  no  hesitation  in  deciding  the  animal  to  be  an 
ibex  of  the  Alps,  and  not  of  the  Pyrenees. 

The  next  is  a  group  of  reindeer  drawn  upon  a  piece  of  slate. 


IVORIES. 


II 


And  lower  down  the  page,  incised  upon  a  piece  of  mammoth 
ivory,  are  outlines  of  the  mammoth  itself.     The  original,  rather 


more  than  nine  inches  in  length,  is  at  Paris  in  the  museum  of  the 
Jardin  des  plantes. 


There  is   no   discovery  with  respect  to  primaeval  man — his 
powers  and  capabilities,  his  possible  enjoyments  and  appreciation 


12  IVORIES. 

of  the  beautiful,  his  certain  infinite  elevation  as  a  reasonable  being 
above  the  beasts  of  the  field,  in  the  most  distant  age  and  period 
to  which  his  existence  has  been  traced, — so  full  of  interest,  so  full 
as  yet  of  unfathomed  mystery,  as  these  wonderful  works  in  ivory 
and  bone.  It  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that,  by  a  happy  accident, 
we  have  lighted  on  the  only  specimens  which  were  ever  executed 
of  such  great  merit ;  or  that  there  were  some  two  or  three  men 
only  who  for  a  brief  time  in  the  stone  age,  by  a  sort  of  miracle, 
were  able  to  produce  work  so  excellent.  Further  researches  and 
a  few  more  fortunate  "  finds  "  may  enable  us  to  learn  much  more 
than  we  now  know  of  other  habits,  and  the  state  of  (what  we  call) 
the  barbarism  of  those  ancient  races  in  other  respects.  Nor  must 
we  forget  that  for  numberless  generations  after  these  men  had 
passed  away  their  descendants  lost  all  the  old  power  and  skill. 
"  Dark  ages "  came,  similar  (although  incomparably  longer  in 
duration)  to  those  which  followed  Greek  or  Roman  civilisation 
and  science  from  the  sixth  to  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  after 
Christ.  Again  quoting  Sir  John  Lubbock,  we  know  that  "  no 
representation,  however  rude,  of  any  animal  has  yet  been  found  in 
any  of  the  Danish  shell  mounds.  Even  on  objects  of  the  bronze 
age  they  are  so  rare  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  a  single  well- 
authenticated  instance  could  be  produced."  "  Even  curved 
lines "  upon  the  rude  and  coarse  pieces  of  pottery  of  later  ages 
"  are  rare."  Once  more :  "  Very  {tt\N  indeed  of  the  British 
sepulchral  urns,  belonging  to  ante-Roman  times,  have  upon  them 
any  curved  lines.  Representations  of  animals  are  also  almost 
entirely  wanting." 

Further  discussion  and  speculation  upon  this  subject  would 
here  be  out  of  place.  We  must  leave  it,  although  with  great 
regret.  We  must  pass  at  one  bound  to  a  later  period  of  time 
which,  however  long  ago  it  may  seem  to  us  looking  back  upon  it, 
is  nevertheless,  in  comparison  with  the  supposed  date  of  the  men 
who  left  their  ivory  and  bone  carvings  in  the  caves  of  Aquitaine, 
positively  modern. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Although  the  narrative  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  does  not,  with 
the  exception  of  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis,  reach  back 
so  far  as  the  known  history  of  the  kingdom  of  Egypt,  it  may  be 
best  to  mention,  first,  some  places  in  the  Old  Testament  in  which 
reference  is  made  to  works  in  ivory. 

King  Solomon,  we  are  told,  "  made  a  great  throne  of  ivory, 
and  overlaid  it  with  the  best  gold."  "The  ivory  house  which 
Ahab  made,"  is  particularly  mentioned  among  his  memorable  acts. 
The  Psalmist  speaks  of  garments  brought  "  out  of  ivory  palaces," 
or  from  what  may  rather  be  translated  wardrobes.  The  original 
text  is  117  vDTI'IQ.  In  the  earlier  Hebrew  the  word  ^yr\  meant  a 
small  house  or  palace  ;  in  the  later, — and  the  45  th  Psalm  is  not  of 
early  date,  and  was  moreover  written  in  a  foreign  country, — it 
meant  more  commonly  a  wardrobe,  or  what  we  now  call  a  vestry 
or  sacristy.  The  prophets  Ezekiel  and  Amos  tell  us  of  "  benches 
of  ivory  brought  out  of  the  isles  of  Chittim,"  of  "  horns  of  ivory," 
and  of  "  beds  of  ivory."  There  are  other  evidences  in  the  Bible 
of  the  value  and  high  estimation  in  which  ivory  was  held  by  the 
Jews  ;  and  its  beauty  of  appearance,  its  brightness,  and  smooth- 
ness are  used  as  poetical  illustrations  in  the  Song  of  Solomon. 
From  a  verse  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  this  last  book  we  also  learn 
that  the  ivory  was  sometimes  inlaid  with  precious  stones. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  in  those  days  works  in  ivory  were 
regarded  in  Judaea  as  a  possession  only  to  be  acquired  by  very 


14  IVORIES. 

great  and  wealthy  persons  ;  nor  may  it  be  too  much,  perhaps,  to 
say  that  they  were  looked  upon  as  insignia  of  royalty.  We  may 
entirely  agree  with  De  Quincy,  in  his  book  upon  the  statue  of 
Jupiter  at  Olympia  :  "  L'ivoire  constitua  les  ornaments  distinctifs 
de  la  dignite  royale  chez  les  plus  anciens  peuples.  L'antiquite  ne 
parle  que  de  sceptres  et  de  trones  d'ivoire,  Tels  etaient  selon 
Denis  d'Halicarnasse  les  attributs  de  la  royaute  chez  les  Etrus- 
ques.  A  leur  exemple,  Tarquin  eut  le  trone  et  le  sceptre 
d'ivoire,  &c." 

But,  as  has  been  already  observed,  there  are  specimens  and 
remains  of  Egyptian  works  in  ivory  still  existing  which  date  by 
many  centuries  from  an  earlier  time  than  the  days  of  Solomon  or 
Ahab.  These  must  be,  of  course,  of  excessive  rarity  :  partly 
because  of  their  antiquity  and  fragile  nature ;  partly  because  of 
the  smallness  of  their  size,  owing  to  which  they  must  have  been 
frequently  overlooked  or  thrown  aside.  The  collection  in  the 
British  museum  includes  some  examples,  a  few  of  which,  par- 
ticularly two  daggers  inlaid  and  ornamented  with  ivory,  are  of 
the  time  of  Moses,  about  i,8oo  years  before  Christ.  Several 
chairs,  ornamented  in  a  like  manner,  may  be  attributed  to  the 
sixteenth  century  B.C.  Some  woodcuts  are  given  of  chairs  and 
stools  ornamented  with  ivory,  in  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson's  account 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians. 

Among  the  Egyptian  antiquities  in  the  British  museum  may 
also  be  mentioned  the  handle  of  a  mirror  in  hippopotamus  ivory ; 
an  ivory  palette  of  about  the  same  period ;  two  ivory  boxes,  in  the 
shape  of  water  fowl ;  and  a  very  remarkable  figure  or  statuette,  a 
woman,  of  perhaps  the  eleventh  century  B.C.  ;  and,  again,  a  very 
curious  casket  of  considerable  size  but  of  much  later  date  ;  pro- 
bably of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  fera  :  Roman  work  and 
decoration.  This  was  found  at  Memphis,  and  is  made  of  ivory 
plaques  laid  upon  a  framework  of  wood.  The  plaques  are  incised 
with  figures  and  coloured.  The  shape  is  oblong,  with  a  sloping 
cover  ;  it  measures  about  twelve  by  ten  inches. 


IVORIES. 


15 


The  use  of  ivory  for  ornament  and  the  adapting  it  to  works  of 
art  must  have  been  known  by  the  Egyptians  from  a  most  remote 
antiquity.  There  is  a  small  ivory  box  in  the  Louvre,  which  is 
inscribed  with  a  praenomen  attributed  to  the  fifth  dynasty.  Labarte, 
quoting  De  Rouge,  mentions  another  of  the  sixth  dynasty  : — "  On 
voit  au  musee  Egyptien  du  Louvre  une  quantite  d'objets  d'os  et 
d'ivoire.  Ce  sont  de  petits  vases,  des  objets  de  toilette,  des  cuillers 
dont  le  manche  est  forme  par  une  femme  nue,  et  une  boite  ornee 
d'une  belle  tete  de  gazelle.  La  piece  la  plus  curieuse  est  une 
autre  boite  d'ivoire  tres-simple,  mais  d'une  excessive  antiquite, 
puisqu'elle  porte  la  le'gende  royale  de  Merien-ra,  qui  est  place 
vers  la  sixieme  dynastie."  Dr.  Birch  in  a  paper  printed  among 
the  transactions  of  the  Royal  society,  on  two  Egyptian  cartouches 
found  at  Nimroud,  refers  to  a  tablet  of  the  twelfth  dynasty,  which 
describes  a  figure  whose  "  arms  are  to  be  made  of  precious  stones, 
silver  and  gold,  and  the  two  hinder  parts  of  ivory  and  ebony.  In 
a  tomb  at  Thebes  record  is  made  of  a  statue  composed  of  ebony 
and  ivory,  with  a  collar  of  gold." 

The  date  of  the  Egyptian  statuette  in  the  British  museum  and 
of  numerous  smaller  objects  in  that  and  in  the  great  foreign 
collections,  such  as  spoons,  bracelets,  collars,  boxes,  &c.,  most  of 
which  are  earlier  than  the  twenty-fourth  dynasty  and  long  before 
the  time  of  Cambyses,  brings  us  to  about  the  same  period  as  the 
famous  Assyrian  ivories,  which  were  found  at  Nineveh,  and  which 
are  also  preserved  in  the  British  museum. 

These  were  chiefly  discovered  in  the  north-west  palace  ;  and 
almost  all  in  two  chambers  of  that  building.  We  cannot  do  better 
than  listen  to  the  general  description  of  them  given  by  Mr.  Layard 
himself : — "  The  most  interesting  are  the  remains  of  two  small 
tablets,  one  nearly  entire,  the  other  much  injured.  Upon  them 
are  represented  two  sitting  figures,  holding  in  one  hand  the 
Egyptian  sceptre  or  symbol  of  power.  Between  them  is  a  car- 
ouche  containing  hieroglyphics,  and  surmounted  by  a  plume, 
such  as  is  found  in  monuments  of  the  eighteenth  and  subsequent 


1 6  •  IVORIES. 

dynasties  of  Egypt.  The  chairs  on  which  the  figures  are  seated, 
the  robes  of  the  figures  themselves,  the  hieroglyphics  and  the 
feather  above,  were  enamelled  with  a  blue  substance  let  into  the 
ivory,  and  the  whole  ground  of  the  tablet,  as  well  as  the  cartouche 
and  part  of  the  figures,  was  originally  gilded, — remains  of  the  gold 
leaf  still  adhering  to  them.  The  forms  and  style  of  art  have  a 
purely  Egyptian  character,  although  there  are  certain  peculiarities 
in  the  execution  and  mode  of  treatment  that  would  seem  to  mark 
the  work  of  a  foreign,  perhaps  an  Assyrian,  artist.  The  same 
peculiarities,  the  same  anomalies,  characterise  all  the  other  objects 
discovered.  Several  small  heads  in  frames,  supported  by  pillars 
or  pedestals,  most  elegant  in  design  and  elaborate  in  execution, 
show  not  only  a  considerable  acquaintance  with  art,  but  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  method  of  working  in  ivory.  Scattered 
about  were  fragments  of  winged  sphinxes,  the  head  of  a  lion  of 
singular  beauty,  human  heads,  legs  and  feet,  bulls,  flowers,  and 
scroll  work.  In  all  these  specimens  the  spirit  of  the  design  and 
the  delicacy  of  the  workmanship  are  equally  to  be  admired." 

There  are  altogether  more  than  fifty  of  these  Assyrian  ivories 
in  the  British  museum  :  a  detailed  account  of  nearly  all  is  given 
by  Mr.  Layard  in  the  appendix  to  his  first  volume.  Dr.  Birch 
says  they  cannot  be  later  in  date  than  the  seventh  century  B.C.; 
and  thinks  it  highly  probable  that  they  are  much  earlier.  Mr. 
Layard  believes  that  about  the  year  950  B.C.  is  the  most  probable 
period  of  their  execution. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  from  the  year  1000  B.C.  down  to 
the  Christian  aera  there  was  a  constant  succession  of  artists  in 
ivory  in  the  western  Asiatic  countries,  in  Egypt,  in  Greece,  and  in 
Italy.  I'Ong  before  ivory  was  applied  in  Greece  to  the  making  of 
bas-reliefs  and  statues  it  was  employed  for  a  multitude  of  objects 
of  luxury  and  ornament.  Inferior  to  marble  in  whiteness,  and  of 
course  greatly  inferior  in  extent  of  available  surface,  ivory  exceeds 
marble  in  beauty  of  polish  and  is  less  fragile,  being  an  animal 
substance  and  of  true  tissue  and  growth.    From  the  time  of  Hesiod 


IVORIES.  17 

and  Homer  numerous  allusions  are  to  be  found  in  classic  authors 
to  various  works  in  this  material :  such  as  the  decoration  of 
shields,  couches,  and  articles  of  domestic  use.  As  to  statues, 
Pausanias  tells  us  that,  so  far  as  he  could  learn,  men  first  made 
them  of  wood  only ;  of  ebony,  cypress,  cedar,  or  oak.  The 
passages  from  the  earlier  classics  have  been  referred  to,  over  and 
over  again,  by  all  the  later  writers  on  the  subject ;  and  it  would 
be  not  merely  wearying  but  unnecessary  to  repeat  them  here. 

In  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  ivory  statues  of  the  Dioscuri 
and  other  deities  were  made  at  Sicyon  and  Argos.  Sir  Digby 
Wyatt,  in  the  lecture  before  referred  to,  speaks  of  them  as  having 
been  rude  in  character,  but  there  is  no  evidence  left  for  so  dis- 
paraging a  decision.  Other  works  were  statues  of  the  Hours,  of 
Themis,  and  of  Diana.  The  names  of  some  of  the  sculptors  have 
been  preserved  :  among  them  Polycletus,  Endoos  of  Athens,  the 
brothers  Medon,  and  Dorycleides. 

The  style  in  which  objects  of  this  kind  were  executed  was 
called  Toreutic:  from  ropevco,  to  bore  through,  to  chase,  to  work 
in  relief;  signifying  chiefly  working  the  material  in  the  round  or  in 
relief  Winckelman,  in  his  history  of  art,  explains  the  term  at  first 
with  insufficient  exactness  :  "  Phidias  inventa  cet  art  appele'  par 
les  anciens  toreutice,  c'est  a  dire,  I'art  de  tourner."  In  his  second 
edition  he  corrects  this,  and  rightly  says,  "la  racine  de  cette 
denomination  est  Top6<;,  dai'r,  distinct,  epithete  qui  s'applique 
a  la  voix.  C'est  pourquoi  on  donne  ce  nomme  au  travaux 
en  relief,  par  opposition  au  travail  en  creux  des  pierres  pre- 
cieuses."  A  long  disquisition  on  the  meaning  of  the  word,  and 
its  etymology,  is  given  by  De  Quincy. 

One  of  the  most  famous  of  such  toreutic  works,  and  of  which 
Pausanias  has  left  us  a  tolerably  accurate  description,  was  the 
coff'er  which  the  Cypselidae  sent  as  an  offering  to  Olympia,  about 
600  B.C.  It  seems  to  have  been  made  of  cedar  wood,  of  con- 
siderable size ;  the  figures  ranged  in  five  rows,  one  above  the 
other,  along  the  sides  which  were  inlaid  with  gold  and  ivory. 

e 


1 8  IVORIES. 

The  subjects  were  taken  from  old  heroic  stories.  De  Quincy  has 
given  a  large  plate  with  a  conjectural  restoration  of  the  chest ; 
which  he  supposes  to  have  been  oblong  with  a  rounded  cover. 
Others  believe  it  to  have  been  elliptical. 

Pausanias,  in  his  description  of  Greece,  mentions  the  exist- 
ence in  his  time  of  numerous  ivory  statues  and  of  chryselephantine 
works.  In  the  first  section  of  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  the 
fifth  book  he  enumerates  ten  or  fifteen,  which  he  says  were  all 
made  of  ivory  and  gold ;  and  a  table  of  ivory.  At  Megara  he 
saw  an  ivory  statue  of  Venus,  the  work  of  Praxiteles ;  at  Corinth, 
many  chryselephantine  statues  ;  near  Mycenae,  a  statue  of  Hebe, 
the  work  of  Naucydes ;  in  Altis,  the  horn  of  Amalthea ;  and  in 
another  treasury  there,  a  statue  of  Endymion  entirely  of  ivory, 
except  his  robe ;  at  Elis,  a  statue  made  of  ivory  and  gold,  the 
work  of  Phidias ;  near  Tritia,  in  Achaias,  an  ivory  throne  with 
the  sitting  figure  of  a  virgin ;  at  ^gira,  a  wooden  statue  of 
Minerva  of  which  the  face,  hands,  and  feet  were  ivory.  And,  to 
name  no  more,  a  statue  of  Minerva,  the  work  of  Endius,  all  of 
ivory,  long  preserved  at  Tegea,  but  at  the  time  when  he  wrote 
placed  at  the  entrance  of  the  new  forum  at  Rome,  having  been 
taken  there  by  Augustus. 

There  are  two  men  whose  travels  and  the  sights  they  saw  we 
cannot  but  envy ;  one  was  Pausanias,  the  other  our  own  Leland. 

It  should  be  observed  that  Pausanias  believed  ivory  to  be  the 
horn  and  not  the  tooth  of  the  elephant :  and  he  has  a  long 
argument  about  it  in  his  fifth  book,  where  he  refers  to  and 
mentions  the  Celtic  stag.  Declaring  it  to  be  horn,  he  says  that, 
like  the  horns  of  oxen,  ivory  can  be  softened  by  fire  and  changed 
from  a  round  to  a  flat  shape. 

The  famous  chryselephantine  statues  of  Phidias  and  his  con- 
temporaries were  somewhat  later  than  the  statues  of  the  Dioscuri 
and  the  chest  at  Olympia.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  was  the 
figure  of  Minerva  in  the  Parthenon,  which  was  in  height  nearly 
forty  English  feet.     It  would  be  wrong  to  omit  all  notice  of  the 


IVORIES.  19 

attempt  to  reproduce  this  statue  which  was  made  by  order  of  the 
late  Due  de  Luynes,  and  was  shown  in  the  Paris  Exhibition  of 
1855.  "M.  Simart,  qui  Fa  executee,  s'est  montre  le  digne 
interprete  de  Phidias,  et  a  su  retrouver,  par  ses  etudes  appro- 
fondies,  le  vrai  sentiment  de  I'art  antique.  La  statue,  de  trois 
metres  de  hauteur,  est  d'ivoire  et  d'argent :  la  face,  le  cou,  le  bras 
et  les  pieds,  la  tete  de  Me'duse  placee  sur  son  egide,  ainsi  que  le 
torse  de  la  Victoire  qu'elle  tient  dans  la  main  droite,  sont  d'ivoire 
de  rinde.  La  lance,  le  bouclier,  le  casque,  et  le  serpent  sont  de 
bronze ;  la  tunique  et  I'e'gide  d'argent  ont  ete  repousse'es  et 
ciselees." 

Even  more  colossal  than  the  figure  of  Minerva,  was  the  Jupiter 
at  Olympia ;  the  god  was  represented  sitting,  and  reached  to  the 
height  of  about  fifty-eight  feet.  De  Quincy  has  some  conjectural 
restorations  of  this  statue  engraved  in  his  book. 

We  remember  the  destruction  of  these  and  similar  works  with 
the  utmost  regret ;  and  the  more  so,  because  that  destruction  was 
owing  in  many  instances  to  the  mad  violence  of  Christian  fanatics  ; 
the  iconoclasts  of  the  eighth  century.  The  remains  which  we 
possess  even  of  smaller  objects  are  not  only  of  excessive  rarity, 
but  they  cannot  with  any  certainty  be  attributed  to  artists  working 
in  Greece  itself.  Ivory  and  metal  have  perished  under  con" 
ditions  which  have  left  uninjured  fragile  vases.  There  are  some 
examples  of  carvings  in  ivory  in  the  British  museum,  and  especially 
in  the  collection  lately  purchased  from  signor  Castellani  which 
have  been  found  in  Etruscan  tombs.  Many  of  these  are  perhaps 
the  work  of  Greek  artists. 

Etruscan  sculpture  was  probably  derived  at  first  from  Egypt : 
but  the  art  of  the  one  was  entirely  and  unchangingly  conventional, 
and  never  seems  to  vary  from  a  certain  fixed  style.  The  Etrurian, 
on  the  contrary,  soon  cleared  itself  from  the  bondage  of  old 
traditions  and,  even  when  rudest,  was  free  and  attempted  to 
imitate  nature  in  the  representation  of  muscles,  hair,  and 
draperies. 


20  IVORIES. 

Neither  the  beauty  nor  the  wonderful  spirit  of  the  execution 
of  some  of  the  ivories  in  the  British  museum  has  been  exceeded 
or  perhaps  equalled  in  any  later  time.  Among  them  the  following 
ought  to  be  particularly  mentioned  : — 

A  large  bust  of  a  woman,  of  the  Roman  republican  period, 
and  a  small  carving  of  the  head  of  a  horse,  scarcely  inferior  to 
the  work  of  any  Greek  artist  of  the  best  time.  A  very  important 
head  of  a  Gorgon,  as  seen  on  Athenian  coins,  Avith  eyes  inlaid 
in  gold,  about  two  inches  in  diameter ;  probably  the  button  of  a 
woman's  dress.  Two  lions,  the  heads  and  part  only  of  the  bodies, 
lying  across  each  other,  very  admirable  and  full  of  character ;  and 
another  lion's  head,  the  top  perhaps  of  the  handle  of  a  mirror. 
These  were  chiefly  discovered,  with  numerous  other  fragments, 
at  Chiusi  and  Calvi.  At  Chiusi  also  were  found  the  panels  of 
two  small  caskets  which  have  been  put  together;  both  are  of 
early  date;  one  it  may  be  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.  and 
Phoenician  in  style.  There  is  plso  in  the  same  case  a  fine  small 
Ivory  statuette,  much  later,  perhaps  of  the  second  century  :  a  boy, 
still  partly  embedded  in  the  mortar  or  refuse  in  which  it  was 
found. 

The  workers  in  ivory  during  the  first  centuries  of  our  sera 
were,  as  a  class,  sufficiently  numerous  to  be  exempted  by  law 
from  some  personal  and  municipal  obligations.  Pancirolus,  in  his 
"  Notitiae,"  gives  a  list  of  these  bodies  of  artificers.  He  mentions 
as  exempt,  architects,  medical  men,  painters,  and  others,  with 
references  to  the  various  laws  under  which  they  were  excused  j 
and  among  them  are  "  workmen  in  ivory,  who  make  chairs,  beds, 
and  other  things  of  that  sort." 

Nevertheless,  carvings  in  ivory  of  the  Roman  imperial  times 
before  Constantine  are  extremely  scarce.  In  the  superb  collection 
in  the  South  Kensington  museum  there  are  two  only  which  can 
safely  be  so  attributed.  One  is  the  fragment,  no.  299  ;  the 
other  is  the  beautiful  leaf,  no.  212. 

The   British   museum  (not  to   mention   a   large    number   of 


IVORIES.  21 

fragments  chiefly  of  caskets  or  decorations  of  furniture,  tesserse 
and  tickets  of  admission  to  theatres  and  shows,  dice,  and  the 
hke)  possesses  a  few  pieces,  of  which  one  is  extremely  fine  in 
character  and  in  good  preservation.  The  subject  is  Bellerophon, 
who  is  represented  on  Pegasus,  kilUng  the  Chimsera ;  and  it  is 
executed  in  open  work.  The  age  is  somewhat  doubtful.  Pro 
fessor  Westwood  places  it  as  early  as  the  third  century,  and  his 
judgment  must  be  treated  with  great  deference.  Others,  of  no 
slight  authority,  are  indisposed  to  give  it  an  earlier  date  than  the 
fourth  century.  This  admirable  ivory  has  somewhat  of  the 
character  of  the  book-cover  in  the  Barberini  collection,  engraved 
by  Gori,  in  the  second  volume  of  his  great  work  on  diptychs. 
That  famous  piece  is  not  perfect,  nor  is  there  any  name  upon  it. 
Gori  fairly  argues  that  it  represents  the  emperor  Constantius,  about 
the  year  357.     The  Bellerophon  is  of  finer  work. 

The  gradual  and  uninterrupted  decline  of  art  from  the  days 
of  Augustus  is  to  be  traced  as  distinctly  in  the  ivories  which  have 
been  preserved  as  in  ancient  buildings.  But  we  can  scarcely 
agree  with  D'Agincourt  as  regards  its  rapidity.  Speaking  of 
sculpture  generally,  he  says  :  "  On  vit  celle-ci  successivement 
grande,  noble,  auguste  sous  le  prince  qui  merita  ce  nom ;  licen- 
cieuse  et  obscene  sous  Tibere ;  grossierement  adulatrice  souf 
Caracalla  ;  extravagante  sous  Neron,  qui  faisait  dorer  les  chefs- 
d'oeuvre  de  Lysippe."  D'Agincourt  probably  refers  to  the  bar- 
barism of  Caligula,  who  proposed  to  put  a  head  of  himself  upon 
the  Olympic  Zeus  by  Phidias ;  or  to  Claudius,  who  cut  the  head 
of  Alexander  out  of  a  picture  by  Apelles,  to  replace  it  with  his 
own.  Suetonius  has  recorded  the  first  of  these  atrocities  (can 
we  speak  of  them  by  a  lighter  name  ?)  and  Pliny  the  last. 

In  the  collection  given  to  the  town  of  Liverpool  by  Mr. 
Mayer  there  are  two  very  celebrated  pieces,  possibly  of  the  third 
century ;  they  were  originally  the  leaves  of  a  diptych.  On  one  is 
jfisculapius,  on  the  other  Hygieia. 


CHAPTER   III. 

From  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  down  to  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  we  have  an  unbroken  chain  of  examples  still  existing. 
Individual  pieces  may,  perhaps,  in  many  instances  be  of  question- 
able origin  as  regards  the  country  of  the  artist,  and,  sometimes, 
with  respect  to  the  exact  date  within  fifty  or  even  a  hundred 
years.  But  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that,  increasing  in  number 
as  they  come  nearer  to  the  middle  ages,  we  can  refer  to  carved 
ivories  of  every  century  preserved  in  museums  in  England  and 
abroad.  Their  importance  with  reference  to  the  history  of  art 
cannot  be  overrated.  There  is  no  such  continuous  chain  in 
manuscripts,  or  mosaics,  or  gems,  or  textiles,  or  porcelain,  or 
enamels.  Perhaps,  with  the  exception  of  manuscripts,  there  never 
was  in  any  of  these  classes  so  large  a  number  executed  nor  the 
demand  for  them  so  great.  The  material  itself  or  the  decorations 
by  which  other  works  were  surrounded  very  probably  tempted 
people  to  destroy  them  ;  and  we  may  thank  the  valueless  character 
of  many  a  piece  of  carved  ivory,  except  as  a  work  of  art,  for 
its  preservation  to  our  own  days. 

The  most  important  ivories  before  the  seventh  century  are  the 
consular  diptychs.  The  earliest  which  still  exists  claims  to  be  of 
the  middle  of  the  third  century,  the  latest  belongs  to  the  middle 
of  the  sixth.  Anything  doubled,  or  doubly  folded,  is  a  diptych : 
hLTnv)(ov ;  but  the  term  was  chiefly  applied  to  the  tablets  used 
for  writing  on  with  metallic  or  ivory  styles  by  the  ancients.    When 


IVORIES.  23 

these  tablets  had  three  leaves  they  were  called  triptychs,  and  of 
five  or  more  leaves  pentaptychs  or  polyptychs.  Inside,  each  leaf 
was  slightly  sunk  with  a  narrow  raised  margin  in  order  to  hold 
wax ;  outside,  they  were  ornamented  with  carvings.  They  were 
not  always  of  ivory ;  frequently  of  citron  or  of  some  less  costly 
wood,  and  for  common  use  were  probably  of  small  size,  con- 
venient for  the  hand  and  for  carrying  about. 

Homer,  in  the  sixth  book  of  the  Iliad,  speaks  of  such  tablets, 
and  there  are  frequent  references  to  them  in  Latin  writers  ;  in 
Juvenal,  Martial,  and  other  authors.  Many  passages  are  to  be 
found  quoted  in  books  upon  the  ancient  Roman  diptychs.  It 
happens  also  that  two  ancient  specimens  have  been  found.  Both 
were  discovered  in  gold  mines  in  Transylvania,  and  have  been 
described  by  Massmann  in  a  volume  published  at  Leipsic  in 
1841.  Each  consists  of  three  leaves,  one  of  fir-wood,  the  other  of 
beech,  and  about  the  size  of  a  modern  octavo  book.  The  outer 
part  exhibits  the  plain  surface  of  the  wood,  the  inner  part  is 
covered  with  wax  surrounded  by  a  margin.  The  edges  of  one 
side  are  pierced  that  they  might  be  fastened  together  by  means  of 
a  thread  or  wire  passed  through  them.  The  wax  is  not  thick  on 
either  set  of  tablets  ;  it  is  thinner  on  the  beechen  set,  in  which 
the  stylus  of  the  writer  has  in  places  cut  through  the  wax  into 
the  wood.  There  is  manuscript  still  remaining  on  both  of  them  : 
the  beginning  of  the  beechen  tablets  containing  some  Greek 
letters.  The  writing  on  the  other  is  in  Latin,  a  copy  of  a 
document  relating  to  a  collegium.  The  name  of  one  of  the 
consuls  is  given,  determining  the  date  to  be  a.d.  169.  An 
abridged  account  of  these  very  curious  tablets  is  given  in  Smith's 
"  Dictionary  of  antiquities  "  under  the  word  "  tabulae." 

The  consular  diptychs  were  of  much  larger  size  than  those 
made  for  everyday  use :  generally  about  twelve  inches  in  length 
by  five  or  six  in 'breadth.  Diptychs  of  this  kind  were  part  of  the 
presents  sent  by  new  consuls  on  their  appointment  to  very 
eminent  persons  ;  to  the  senators,  to  governors  of  provinces,  and 


24  IVORIES. 

to  friends.  Each  consul  probably  sent  many  such  gifts,  and 
duplicates  of  more  than  one  example  have  been  preserved. 
These  naturally  varied  greatly,  not  only  in  the  workmanship  but 
in  the  material.  For  persons  in  high  station  or  authority  the 
diptychs  would  be  carved  by  the  best  artists  of  the  time,  and  if 
not  made  entirely  of  some  metal  very  costly  and  valuable  the 
material  would  be  ivory,  perhaps  also  mounted  in  gold.  As  we 
find  in  the  fifth  book  of  the  letters  of  Symmachus  (consul,  a.d. 
391),  "  Domino  principi  nostro  auro  circumdatum  diptychon  misi, 
caeteros  quoque  amicos  eburneis  pugillaribus  et  canistellis  argenteis 
honoravi."  For  others  of  lower  rank  or  for  dependents,  they 
would  be  roughly  finished  and  of  bone  or  wood. 

It  is  to  the  custom  of  sending  these  diptychs  to  people  of 
rank  in  the  provinces  that  we  owe  the  preservation  of  some  still 
extant,  and  which  have  been  kept  in  the  country  into  which  they 
came  by  gift  or  otherwise  in  very  early  times.  Generally,  in 
somewhat  later  days,  they  were  given  or  bequeathed  to  churches  ; 
and,  having  been  first  used  in  the  public  services,  were  afterwards 
laid  by  in  their  treasuries. 

Inside  these  official  diptychs  the  wax  may  have  been  inscribed 
with  the  Fasti  Consulares  or  list  of  names  of  all  preceding 
consuls,  closing  with  that  of  the  new  magistrate,  the  donor.  As 
Ausonius,  himself  consul  in  the  year  379,  says  in  one  of  his 
epigrams  : 

"  Hactenus  adscripsi  fastos.     Si  sors  volet,  ultra 
Adjiciam  :  si  non,  qui  legis,  adjicies. 
Scire  cupis,  qui  sim  ?  titulum  qui  quartus  ab  imo  est 
Qurere  ;  legis  nomen  consulis  Ausonii. " 

This,  however,  as  a  rule,  is  matter  of  conjecture.  Outside,  the 
leaves  were  carved  with  various  ornaments ;  sometimes  with 
scrolls,  or  cornucopise,  or  the  bust  of  the  new  consul  in  a 
medallion.  Sometimes — and  as  the  diptychs  which  Ave  now 
possess  repeat  this  style  the  most  frequently  we  may  conclude  it 
to  have  been  the  usual  practice  at  least  for  the  more  important  of 


IVORIES.  25 

those  presented — the  consul  was  represented  at  full  length  and 
sitting  in  the  cushioned  curule  chair :  one  hand  often  being 
uplifted  and  holding  the  mappa  circeiisis.  He  is  clothed  in  the 
full  ceremonial  vestments  of  his  office,  as  used  when  he  was 
inducted  into  it.  The  dress  itself  seems  to  be  a  splendid  imitation 
of  that  worn  by  the  old  generals  at  the  celebration  of  a  triumph ; 
a  richly  embroidered  cloak  {toga  pictd)  with  ample  folds,  beneath 
which  is  a  tunic  striped  with  purple  [trabca)  or  figured  with  palm 
leaves  {tunica  palmatd).  On  his  feet  are  shoes  of  cloth  of  gold 
{cdlcei  aurati),a.nd  in  one  hand  the  consular  staffer  ?,CQ^\xe{sdpio) 
surmounted  by  an  eagle  or  an  image  of  Victory. 

The  conspicuous  representation  of  a  cushion  on  the  seat  of 
the  chair  is  probably  not  to  be  overlooked  as  of  small  significa- 
tion or  importance.  Cushions  were  permitted  only  to  certain 
privileged  classes  during  the  games  of  the  circus  ;  and  Caligula 
conceded  the  use  of  cushions  to  senators  as  a  graceful  compliment 
at  the  beginning  of  his  reign. 

Some  will  remember  also  the  advice  given  by  Ovid,  in  his 
"  Art  of  Love,"  to  the  lover  in  attendance  on  his  mistress  in  the 
theatre  or  at  public  games  (he  had  just  before  been  speaking  of 
the  ivory  statues  carried  in  the  procession) : 

"  Parva  leves  capiiint  animos.     Fuit  utile  multis 
Pulvinum  facili  composuisse  manu. 
Profuit  et  tenui  ventum  movisse  tabella  \_flabello .?]  ; 
Et  cava  sub  teneram  scamna  dedisse  pedem. " 

Not  unusually  in  the  lower  part  of  each  leaf,  in  a  separate 
compartment,  were  representations  of  the  shows  which  the 
consul  intended  to  give,  of  the  manumission  of  slaves,  and  of 
the  presents,  money,  bread,  &c.,  which  were  also  to  be  distributed 
among  the  people. 

The  series  of  consular  diptychs,  having  each  of  them  in  many 
cases  a  known  date,  is  of  essential  value  and  importance  in  the 
history  of  art,  whilst  the  fashion  of  them  lasted.  Similar  as  they 
are  one  to  another  in  certain  respects,  nevertheless  there  is  a 


26  IVORIES. 

considerable  variety  of  treatment  and  undoubtedly  various  degrees 
of  excellence  or  inferiority  of  style  and  execution.  When  so 
many  would  be  required  by  the  consul  of  the  year,  it  was  impos. 
sible  that  all  could  be  made  by  good  artists,  and  probably  one  or 
two  of  the  best  kind  were  roughly  copied  by  common  workmen. 
It  was  sufficient  if  the  general  character,  dress,  or  special 
ornament  of  the  consul  were  represented. 

Rapidly  as  art  declined  during  the  three  centuries  after  the 
birth  of  Constantine,  as  shown  especially  in  these  consular 
diptychs,  we  may  nevertheless  trace  a  certain  grandeur  in  the 
figures  and  in  the  attitudes  which  show  that  earlier  and  better 
models  of  antiquity  were  still  followed  by  the  sculptors.  Labarte 
further  observes  that  the  diptychs  carved  at  Constantinople  were 
far  superior  to  those  which  were  made  in  Italy. 

Many  of  these  diptychs  are  identified  by  the  name  of  the 
consul  which  is  carved  across  the  top  of  one  leaf;  the  full  legend 
generally  running  across  both  being  equally  divided.  It  has 
been  said  that  these  legends  (as  well  as  portions  of  the  sculpture) 
were  sometimes  coloured  red.  We  know  no  extant  example,  but 
the  following  passage  from  Claudian  is  important,  and  not  on  that 
particular  point  alone  : 

"Turn  virides  pardos,  et  cetera  colligit  austri 
Prodigia,  immanesque  siinul  Latonia  dentes, 
Qui  secti  ferro  in  tabulas  auroque  micantes, 
Inscripti  rutilum  ca^lato  consule  nomen, 
Per  proceres  et  vulgus  eant ;  stupor  omnibus  Indis 
Plurimus  ereptis  elephas  inglorius  errat 

Dentibus." 

• 

We  usually  find  also  a  profusion  of  proper  names,  according 
to  the  fashion  and  taste  of  the  court  of  Constantinople  and  of  the 
last  years  of  the  consulate.  Following  these  names  was  a  formula 
which  expressed  the  style  and  dignities  :  "  Vir  illustris,  comes 
domesticorum  equitum,  et  consul  ordinarius."  The  "  vir  illustris  " 
signified  that  the  new  consul  had  either  filled  or  was  of  rank  great 


IVORIES.  27 

enough  to  fill  high  official  positions  in  the  state.  The  "  comes 
domesticorum  equitum  "  was  his  title  as  commander  of  the  body- 
guard of  the  emperor.  The  "  consul  ordinarius  "  declared  the 
true  consular  dignity  itself. 

Some  of  the  consular  diptychs  also  add  the  names  of  the 
persons  or  communities  to  whom  they  were  sent.  Thus,  the 
diptych  of  Flavius  Theodorus  Philoxenus,  a.d.  525,  has  the 
following  inscription  in  Greek  iambics,  part  upon  one  tablet,  part 
upon  the  other :  "  I,  Philoxenus  the  consul,  offer  this  gift  to  the 
wise  senate." 

Another  diptych  of  Flavius  Petrus,  a.d.  516,  has  this  inscrip- 
tion within  a  large  circle  :  "  I,  the  consul,  offer  these  presents, 
though  small  in  value,  still  ample  in  honours,  to  my  [senatorial] 
fathers."  This  is  given  by  M.  Pulszky,  in  his  essay  on  antique 
ivories.  The  same  writer  quotes  the  often-cited  decree  of  the 
emperor  Theodosius  ;  by  which,  because  of  the  honour  attached 
to  the  receiving  of  these  diptychs,  the  presenting  of  them  by 
anyone  but  the  ordinary  consuls  was  forbidden.  The  law  ought 
not  to  be  omitted  here  :  "  Lex  xv.  Codex  Theodosianus,  ///.  xi, 
De  expensis  ludorum.  lUud  etiam  constitutione  solidamus,  ut 
exceptis  consulibus  ordinariis,  nulli  prorsus  alteri  auream  spor- 
tulam  aut  diptycha  ex  ebore  dandi  facultas  sit.  Cum  publica 
celebrantur  officia,  sit  sportulis  nummus  argenteus,  alia  materia 
diptycha." 

During  the  period  when  these  ivory  diptychs  were  in  use  or 
fashion,  that  is  (so  far  as  we  know)  from  the  first  or  second 
centuries  to  the  sixth,  the  office  of  consul  was  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  emperors,  who  conferred  it  on  whom  they  would, 
and  assumed  it  themselves  as  often  as  they  thought  fit.  Augustus 
was  consul  thirteen  times  ;  Vitellius  proclaimed  himself  perpetual 
consul ;  Vespasian  eight  times ;  and  Domitian  seventeen.  The 
consuls,  therefore,  gradually  became  mere  ciphers  in  the  state. 
It  is  true  that  they  presided  in  the  senate  and  on  other  public 
occasions  with  all  the  ancient  forms ;  and  the  mere  title,  down  to 


28  IVORIES. 

the  extinction  of   the  western  empire,  was  nominally  the  most 
exalted  and  honourable  of  all  official  positions. 

The  most  complete  list  which  we  have  of  the  existing  consular 
diptychs  is  given  by  professor  Westwood  in  a  carefully  written 
paper  read  before  the  Oxford  architectural  society,  and  printed  in 
their  proceedings  for  1862.  These  are  supposed  to  have  been 
all  identified,  and,  in  most  instances,  by  the  inscription  on  the 
ivory.  Nevertheless,  we  must  still  acknowledge  to  a  grave 
doubt  about  more  than  one  : — 


A.D. 

1.  M.  Julius   Philippus   Augustus.       In    the    Meyer  collection  at 

Liverpool.     One  leaf     ........     248 

2.  M.  Aurelius  Romulus  Caesar.     In  the  British  museum.     One  leaf    308 

3.  Rufius  Probianus.     At  Berlin.     Both  leaves       ....     322 

4.  Anicius  Probus.     In  the  treasury  of   the  cathedral    of  Aosta. 

Both  leaves  . 406 

5.  Flavius  Felix.     Bibliotheque  Imperiale,  Paris.     One  leaf  .         .     428 

6.  Valentinian  III.     In  the  treasury  of  the  cathedral  of  Monza. 

Both  leaves   .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         . ,.        .     430 

7.  Flavius  Areobindus.     At  Milan,  in  the  Trivulci  collection.    Both 

leaves 434 

8.  Flavius  Asturius.     At  Darmstadt.     One  leaf      ....     449 

9.  Flavius  Aetius.     At  Halberstadt.     One  leaf       ....     454 

10.  Narius  Manlius  Boethius.     In  the  bibl.    Quiriniana  at  Brescia. 

Tv/o  leaves   ..........     487 

11.  Theodoras  Valentianus.     At  Berlin.     Both  leaves      .         .         .     505 

12.  Flavius  Dagalaiphus  Ariobindus.     At  Lucca  ;  both  leaves.     At 

Zurich ;    both  leaves.      And  in  private  possession  at  Dijon ; 

one  leaf 506 

13.  Flavius  Taurus  Clementinus.     In  the  Meyer  collection  at  Liver- 

pool.    Both  leaves         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         •     S'S 

14.  Flavius  Petrus  Justinianus.     Bibliotheque  Imperiale,    at    Paris  ; 

one  leaf.  And  at  Milan,  in  the  Trivulci  collection  ;  both 
leaves 516 

15.  Flavius  Anastasius  Paulus  Probus  Pompeius.     At  Berlin ;    one 

leaf.  The  other  leaf  in  South  Kensington  museum.  Biblio- 
theque Imperiale,  Paris ;  both  leaves.  And  Verona ;  one 
leaf 517 

16.  Flavius  Paulus  Probus  Magnus.     Two  in  the  Imperial  library  at 

Paris ;  each  one  leaf.  Another,  so  attributed,  in  the  Mayer 
collection  at  Liverpool ;  one  leaf    ......     5^^ 

17.  Flavius  Anicius  Justinus  Augustus.     At  Vienna  ;  one  leaf  .         .     519 


IVORIES.  29 

A.D. 

18.  Flavius  Theodorus  Philoxenus.     Bibliotheque  Imperiale,  Paris ; 

both  leaves.     And  in  the  Mayer  collection  ;    one  leaf ;  very 
doubtful 525 

19.  Flavius  Anicius  Justinianus  Augustus.     At  Paris         .         .         .     528 

20.  Rufinus  Orestes.     South  Kensington  museum.     Both  leaves        .     530 

21.  Anicius  Faustus  Albinus  Basilius.     In  the  Ufifizii,  at  Florence; 

one  leaf.     The  companion  leaf  is  in  the  Brera,  at  Milan.         .     541 

A  few  remarks  may  be  of  use  to  the  student  with  reference  to 
some  of  these  important  diptychs.  The  leaves  of  no.  3  now 
form  the  covers  of  a  manuscript  life  of  St.  Ludgerus.  This 
diptych  is  erroneously  named  by  Labarte  as  the  most  ancient 
known  to  exist. 

Of  no.  5,  the  other  leaf  was  lost  or  stolen  during  the  French 
revolution  of  1792. 

Mr.  Oldfield,  a  very  high  authority,  suggests  that  no.  6  should 
be  given  to  Valentinian  II.,  in  which  case  the  date  would  be 
about  A.D.  380.  The  earlier  date  is  supported  by  the  great 
beauty  and  admirable  execution  of  the  diptych. 

No.  7  has  no  inscription :  it  bears  a  monogram  which  con- 
tains all  the  letters  of  the  name  Areobindus.  It  is  engraved  in 
the  Thesaurus  of  Gori. 

No.  8  was  formerly  in  the  church  of  St.  Martin  at  Lie'ge,  and 
it  was  long  supposed  to  be  lost.  Professor  Westwood,  however, 
has  found  the  greater  portion  of  one  leaf,  used  as  the  cover  of  a 
book  of  the  gospels  in  the  royal  library  at  Darmstadt.  This, 
probably,  is  not  a  fragment  of  the  Liege  diptych,  but  of  another 
of  the  same  consul.     The  two  leaves  are  engraved  in  Gori, 

A  folio  volume  of  more  than  200  pages  was  edited  by 
Hagenbuch  in  1738,  containing  a  number  of  learned  essays  on 
the  diptych  of  Manlius  Boethius,  no.  10.  It  has  at  the  beginning 
engravings  of  both  leaves  :  and  the  consul  is  represented  on  one 
in  a  standing  position  ;  on  the  other,  sitting  and  holding  the 
viappa  in  his  right  hand.  The  inscription  is  unusually  obscure : 
how  much  so  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  the  editor  of  the 


30  IVORIES. 

book  has  collected  more  than  half  a  dozen  different  interpretations 
of  it.  Some  of  them  are  amusing.  The  inscription  on  one  leaf 
runs  thus:  NARMANLBOETHIVSVCETINL,  on  the  other, 
EXPPPVSECCONSORDETPATRIC.  The  members  of  the 
Academy  at  Paris,  to  whom  the  difficulty  had  been  referred, 
proposed  to  read  "  Natales  regios  Manlius  Boethius  vir  clarissimus 
et  inlustris  ex  propria  pecunia  voto  suscepto  edixit  celebrandos 
consul  ordinarius  et  patricius."  But  a  more  probable  reading  is, 
"  Narius  Manlius  Boethius  vir  clarissimus  et  inlustris,  expraefectus 
praetorio,  prsefectus,  et  comes,  consul  ordinarius  et  patricius. 
Again,  against  this  last  some  have  disputed  that  the  PPP  meant 
three  times  prefect,  and  CC  twice  consul. 

We  must  remember  that  artists  in  ivory  were  driven,  because 
of  the  narrow  limits  at  their  disposal,  to  use  extreme  forms  of 
contractions  and  symbols,  scarcely  intelligible  even  in  their  own 
time,  instead  of  words :  far  more  so,  indeed,  than  were  the 
carvers  of  inscriptions  upon  monumental  stones,  altars,  and 
sarcophagi. 

Professor  Westwood  leaves  the  date  of  no.  1 1  doubtful :  it  is 
remarkable,  as  representing  in  a  medallion,  between  the  busts  of 
the  emperor  and  empress,  the  head  of  Christ  with  a  cruciferous 
nimbus. 

The  Paris  diptych  of  the  consul  Anastasius  was  long  known  as 
the  diptych  of  Bourges,  under  which  name  it  is  well  engraved  in 
Montfaucon's  "Antiquities":  and  no.  i8  as  the  diptych  of  Com- 
piegne ;  having  been  given  by  Charles  the  Bald  in  the  ninth 
century  to  the  abbey  church  of  St.  Corneille,  where  the  leaves 
were  preserved  until  its  destruction  in  1790,  and  were  then 
transferred  to  Paris.  The  diptych  is  admirably  figured  in  the 
Tresor  de  numismatique  et  de  glyptique  of  Lenormant,  who 
refers  also  to  previous  writers  on  this  diptych. 

Basilius,  consul  of  Constantinople,  whose  name  is  attached  to 
no.  21,  was  the  last  of  the  long  and  illustrious  line  of  consuls. 
They   had   continued,   with    a    few    short   interruptions   of   the 


IVORIES.  31 

tribunes,  for  more  than  a  thousand  years.  After  Basilius,  the 
emperors  of  the  East  took  the  title,  until  at  length  it  fell  into 
oblivion.  The  last  consul  of  Rome  was  Decimus  Theodorus 
Paulinus,  a.d.  536.  The  second  leaf  of  this  diptych  has  been 
identified  by  professor  Westwood  :  M.  Pulszky  believed  it  to  have 
been  lost.  It  is  but  a  fragment  of  the  right  wing  of  the  diptych, 
the  upper  half.  Gori  gives  figures  of  both  leaves  :  he  decides 
against  their  being  of  the  same  pair.  Mr.  Westwood,  however, 
says  that  "  it  is  certainly  the  companion "  to  the  leaf  in  the 
Uffizii. 

A  detailed  description  and  arguments  about  many  of  these 
diptychs  will  be  found  in  the  dissertations  printed  by  Gori  in  his 
Thesaurus.  Other  authorities  are  Du  Cange,  Mabillon,  and 
Montfaucon.  Their  statements  have  been  ably  and  briefly  summed 
up  in  the  very  interesting  paper  already  mentioned,  read  before 
the  architectural  society  of  Oxford,  by  professor  Westwood ;  and 
by  M.  Pulszky  in  his  essay  on  antique  ivories. 

A  Roman  diptych,  undescribed,  is  preserved  at  Tarragona  in 
Spain,  and  it  is  extremely  probable  that  a  careful  search  amongst 
the  treasures  still  remaining  in  the  churches  of  that  country  would 
discover  others.  The  very  learned  editor  of  the  Thesaurus  of 
Gori  (writing  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago)  says  :  "  Suspicio 
enim  invaluit  in  locupletissimis  Hispanise  sacrariis,  quo  totius  fere 
orbis  donaria  confluxerunt,  multa  hujusmodi  abscondi,  qu£e  nus- 
quam  adhuc  comparuere,  quia  hactenus  nee  perquisita  nee 
curata." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


There  are  several  very  important  Roman  diptychs  and  leaves  of 
diptychs,  not  consular,  still  extant ;  some  also  of  greater  beauty 
than  any  of  the  examples  in  the  preceding  list.  Among  them  is 
the  diptych  (already  mentioned)  of  ^sculapius  and  Hygieia  in 
the  Mayer  collection  at  Liverpool ;  and  another,  but  smaller,  of 
the  same  subject  in  a  private  collection  in  Switzerland.  This  last 
is  described  by  professor  Westwood,  who  possesses  a  cast  of  it,  as 
"  in  much  deeper  relief  than  the  Fejervary  diptych,  and  fvill  of 
energy  in  the  design.  Here  yEsculapius  holds  a  palm-branch  in 
his  right  hand,  and  supports  his  club,  round  which  a  serpent  is 
twined,  with  his  left ;  whilst  Hygieia  holds  a  snake  in  her  right 
hand  and,  apparently,  a  large  melon  in  her  left."  Another  is  the 
diptych  of  cardinal  Quirini  now  at  Brescia,  having  on  one  leaf, 
as  interpreted  by  M.  Pulszky,  Phsedra  and  Hyppolytus ;  and  on 
the  other  Diana  and  Virbius.  This  is  probably  of  the  third 
century. 

Another  is  the  famous  diptych,  long  known  as  the  Tablets  of 
Sens,  but  now  at  Paris  in  the  Imperial  library  and  forming  the 
covers  of  a  thirteenth  century  manuscript,  containing  "  The  Office 
of  fools,"  or,  rather,  the  Office  of  the  feast  of  the  circumcision. 
In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  some  childish  and 
improper  jests  and  plays  were  allowed  in  churches  on  the  first 
day  of  the  year.  This  "  Office  of  fools  "  seems  to  have  been  a 
complete  arrangement  for  the  day ;  with  mass,  matins,  and  hours. 


IVORIES.  33 

The  whole  affair  was  something  Hke  (but  without  the  reverential 
decorum)  the  festival  of  the  boy-bishop,  celebrated  in  more  than 
one  of  our  English  cathedrals  about  the  same  period,  and  was 
probably  a  relic  of  the  heathen  Saturnalia. 

These  tablets,  which  are  somewhat  similar  in  style  to  the  sar- 
cophagi of  the  third  century,  are  engraved  by  Labarte  in  his 
album.  On  one  leaf  is  represented  Bacchus  in  a  car  drawn  by 
centaurs  ;  on  the  other  is  Diana  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  two  bulls. 
Both  subjects  are  surrounded  by  mythological  figures.  They  are 
engraved  also  in  Lacroix,  Arts  of  the  middle  ages,  as  an  illustration 
of  book-binding  :  and  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Monumens 
antiques  inedits,  by  Millin. 

There  is  a  diptych  of  perhaps  the  fifth  century  in  the  treasury 
of  the  cathedral  of  Monza;  one  leaf  representing  Calliope  sounding 
the  lyre,  and  the  other  some  unknown  philosopher.  Mr.  Oldfield, 
in  his  excellent  catalogue  with  very  valuable  notes  of  the  Arundel 
series  of  fictile  ivories,  supposes  the  muse  to  be  some  Roman  lady 
in  an  ideal  character.  He  objects  to  Gori's  suggestion  that  the 
other  leaf  represents  a  poet,  taking  the  characteristics  to  be  those 
certainly  of  a  philosopher.  Another  is  in  the  public  library  at 
Paris,  the  two  leaves  having  six  muses,  each  of  them  accompanied 
by  an  author.  These  last  have  been  guessed  at  by  M.  de  Witte, 
who  places  the  diptych  in  the  fourth  century.  Neither  M.  Pulszky 
nor  professor  Westwood  is  inclined  to  agree  with  these  guesses, 
except  that  one  may  perhaps  be  Euripides  grouped  with  Melpo- 
mene. The  workmanship  is  rude  and  the  figures  carved  in  high 
relief.  Again,  another  diptych  at  Vienna  in  the  cabinet  of  an- 
tiquities, is  attributed  to  the  time  of  Justinian.  One  leaf  has  a 
figure  representing  Rome ;  the  other,  Constantinople. 

The  above  are  all  named  in  the  essay  attached  to  the  catalogue 
of  the  Fejervary  collection  by  M.  Pulszky;  and  professor  Westwood 
very  rightly  adds  to  them  one  leaf  of  a  diptych  in  the  possession 
of  count  Auguste  de  Bastard,  the  diptych  of  St.  Gall,  the  mytho- 
logical figure  of  Penthea  in  the  museum  of  the  hotel  Cluny,  a 

D 


34  IVORIES. 

perfect  diptych  in  the  cathedral  of  Novara,  and  another  in  the 
basihca  of  San  Gaudenzio  at  the  same  place. 

There  is  no  example  among  all  these  which  surpasses  in  beauty 
of  execution  or  in  the  interest  of  the  subject,  two  ivory  tablets 
which  were  formerly  the  doors  of  a  reliquary  in  the  convent  of 
Moutier  in  France,  in  the  diocese  of  Troyes.     When  M.  Pulszky 
wrote  his  essay  both  tablets  were  supposed  to  be  lost ;  they  had 
been  described  and  engraved  in  the  Thesaurus  of  Gori,  from  whose 
prints  alone  they  were  known.     Happily  both  since  have  been  re- 
covered.   The  left  tablet,  discovered  a  few  years  ago  at  the  bottom 
of  a  well,  is  in  the  hotel  Cluny,  much  injured,  and  the  other  is  in 
the  collection  of  the  South   Kensington   museum.      The  South 
Kensington  leaf  is  probably  the  most  beautiful  antique  ivory  in 
the  world.      Each   leaf  represents  a  Bacchante  ;   on   both   they 
are   standing,  and   the   Bacchante   on   the   leaf  in   the   English 
collection  is  accompanied  by  an  attendant.     Clothed  from  the 
shoulders  to  the  feet  in  a  long  tunic,  she  stands  near  an  oak 
tree  before  an  altar,  on  which  a  fire  is  lighted,  and  she  is  in 
the  act  of  dropping  a  grain  of  incense  from  a  small  box  held 
in  her  left  hand.     The  whole  figure  is  extremely  graceful  and 
dignified,  the  expression  of  the  face  earnest  and  devotional,  and 
the  form  of  the   figure  rightly  expressed  beneath  the  drapery; 
the   hands   and   feet  also   well   and   carefully  carved.      On   the 
corresponding  leaf,  preserved  at  Paris,  the   Bacchante   has   no 
attendant.      Her   drapery  falls   negligently  suspended  from  her 
left  shoulder,  leaving  the  right  arm  and  breast  exposed.     Pro- 
fessor Becker  in  his  "  Gallus,"  describing  the  Lycoris  of  Virgil's 
tenth   eclogue,   says :    "  Her  light  tunica,   without   sleeves,   had 
become   displaced  by  her  movements  and   slidden  down  over 
her  arm,  disclosing  something  more  than  the  dazzling  shoulder." 
He  adds  in  a  note  that  "  the  wide  opening  for  the  neck,  and 
the  broad  holes  for  the  arms,  caused  the  tunica  on  every  occasion 
of  the  person's   stooping  to  slip  down  over   the  arm.     Artists 
appear  to  have  been  particularly  fond  of  this  drapery."     Such 


IVORIES.  35 

an  arrangement,  or  rather  disarrangement,  of  drapery  would 
equally  happen  when  the  tunic  was  fastened  over  the  shoulder 
by  a  small  fibula,  as  it  is  represented  upon  the  right  arm  of 
the  young  attendant  in  the  South  Kensington  leaf.  The  Paris 
Bacchante  stands  before  an  altar  on  which  a  fire  burns,  and 
holds  in  each  hand  a  torch  with  the  flaming  end  downwards,  as 
if  to  extinguish  them.  Her  hair  is  gracefully  bound  with  a 
riband  decorated  with  ivy  leaves,  and  falls  down  her  back.  A 
pine  tree,  stiff  in  design,  stands  close  behind  the  altar ;  not  to 
be  compared  with  the  oak-tree  on  the  other  leaf. 

This  admirable  diptych  was,  perhaps,  a  gift  on  the  occasion 
of  some  marriage  between  members  of  the  two  patrician  famihes 
whose  names  are  on  the  labels  :  NICOMACHORVM.  SYM- 
MACHORVM ;  or  it  may  possibly  have  formed  the  cover  of 
the  marriage  contract  itself,  the  tabids  nuptiales  of  which  Juvenal 
speaks ;  or  perhaps  it  was  a  joint  offering  to  the  temple  ot 
Bacchus  or  Cybele.  The  last  supposition  would  be  confirmed 
if  the  omitted  word  was  "  religio, "  as  suggested  by  Passeri, 
who  believes  that  the  two  families  took  the  opportunity  of 
recording  upon  this  diptych,  on  some  occasion  of  importance 
common  to  both  of  them,  their  determination  to  uphold  the  old 
heathen  worship  against  the  doctrines  and  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity, at  that  time  widely  extending. 

Before  we  pass  to  the  large  series  of  ivory  carvings  executed 
between  the  eighth  or  ninth  and  the  fifteenth  centuries,  there  is 
one  very  celebrated  piece  about  which  a  few  words  may  be  said  : 
a  superb  leaf  of  a  diptych,  preserved  in  the  British  museum.  The 
other  leaf  is  lost  and  has  probably  been  destroyed ;  nor  is  there 
any  record  (it  is  believed)  from  whence  that  museum  obtained  the 
ivory.     It  has  been  in  the  collection  for  many  years. 

The  plaque  itself  is  one  of  the  largest  known  :  more  than  six- 
teen inches  in  length  by  nearly  six  in  width.  The  subject  is  an 
angel,  standing  on  the  highest  of  six  steps  under  an  arch  supported 
on  two  Corinthian  columns  3  he  holds  a  globe  with  a  cross  above 


36 


IVORIES. 


it  in  his  right  hand ;  in  his  left  a  long  staff,  to  the  top  of  which,  as 

if  half  resting  on  it  like  a  warrior  on  his  lance,  the  hand  is  raised 

above  his  head.  He  is  clothed 
in  a  tunic  and  an  ample  cloak 
or  mantle  falling  round  him  and 
over  the  shoulders  in  graceful 
folds.  His  head  is  bound  round 
with  a  fillet,  and  the  feet  have 
sandals.  There  is  no  antique 
ivory  carving  which  surpasses  this 
in  grandeur  of  design,  in  power 
and  force  of  expression,  or  in 
the  excellence  of  its  workman- 
ship. Although  some  foreign 
writers  are  disposed  to  place  the 
date  of  it  so  late  as  the  time  of 
Justinian,  we  shall  be  more  cor- 
rect in  attributing  it,  with  Mr. 
Oldfield,  to  the  fifth  or  even  to 
the  end  of  the  fourth  century. 
Nor,  looking  at  it,  can  we  hesi- 
tate to  claim  for  the  earliest  Chris- 
tian art,  after  Christianity  was 
recognised  by  Constantine,  a 
place  by  the  side  of  the  best 
works  of  pagan  times.  If  we 
select  this,  and  the  book-covers 
in  the  treasury  of  the  cathedral 
at  Milan,  and  the  well-known 
book-cover  in  the  public  library 
at  Paris,  we  shall  find  no  western 

work  in  ivory  to  equal  them  in  quality  and  beauty  of  workmanship 

from  the  fifth  to  the  thirteenth  century. 

We  owe  the  preservation  of  many  of  these  consular  and  mytho- 


IVORIES.  37 

logical  diptychs  to  the  circumstance  that  when  the  practice  of 
sending  them  as  presents  had  (it  may  be)  for  some  time  been  dis- 
continued, another  use  was  found  by  adapting  them  to  Christian 
purposes.  In  some  cases  the  subjects  or  titles  of  the  diptychs 
were  altered ;  as,  for  example,  in  one  of  the  diptychs  preserved  at 
Monza.  This  was  originally  a  consular  diptych,  of  late  work, 
coarse  in  style  and  manner  of  execution.  The  consul  is  represented 
on  each  wing,  raising  the  7nappa  circensisva  the  usual  way  :  on  one, 
however,  he  is  standing  ;  on  the  other  he  is  sitting  upon  a  kind  of 
throne.  On  one  leaf  the  top  of  the  consul's  head  has  been  shaved, 
to  show  the  clerical  tonsure  ;  and  in  the  blank  space  of  two  small 
panels,  immediately  beneath  the  arch  under  which  he  stands,  the 
title  S[an]C[tu]S  GREG°R[ius]  is  cut  in  high  relief.  On  the  other 
leaf  above  the  sitting  consul,  on  the  corresponding  panels,  DAVID 
REX  is  inscribed  in  similar  letters.  Both  the  wings  are  engraved 
by  Gori.  It  must  not  be  omitted  that  some  late  writers  have 
argued  that  this  diptych  is  not  a  palimpsest ;  that  it  is  merely  an 
imitation  of  the  preceding  consular  diptychs,  and  not  earlier  than  the 
seventh  or  eighth  century.  But  the  whole  character  is  unlike  mere 
imitation  ;  and  the  shaving  of  the  head,  the  alteration  of  the  orna- 
mented top  of  the  sceptre  or  staff,  and  the  cutting  of  the  inscription 
on  the  tablets,  might  without  difficulty  have  been  made  for  the 
required  and  more  modern  purpose. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how  later  possessors  of  consular  dip- 
tychs were  induced  to  make  presents  of  them  to  their  bishops  and 
churches  ;  and  in  some  instances,  probably,  in  the  sixth  century, 
those  originally  sent  to  high  ecclesiastical  persons  were  at  once 
transferred  to  pious  uses.  Instead  of  containing  the  lists  of  the 
consuls,  the  diptychs  then  inclosed  the  names  of  martyrs,  saints, 
or  bishops  who  were  to  be  commemorated  in  the  public  service  of 
the  Church.  These  lists  were  read  at  mass  :  of  the  saints  at  that 
part  of  the  canon  which  is  now  known  as  the  Coinmiinicantes ; 
and  of  the  dead  at  the  Memoito,  after  the  consecration  of  the 
Eucharist.     Frequent  reference  to  the  custom  is  to  be  found  in 


38  IVORIES. 

the  old  ritualists,  and  full  information  and  a  cloud  of  authorities 
on  the  subject  in  the  learned  work  of  Salig,  on  diptychs.  The 
leaves  of  several  such  dijDtychs  still  exist,  and  sometimes  with  the 
names  not  written  on  wax,  but  carved  or  incised  upon  the  ivory 
itself. 

One  very  remarkable  example  is  the  diptych,  now  at  Liverpool, 
of  Flavins  Clementinus,  consul  a.d.  513.  Upon  the  back  of  each 
leaf  a  long  Greek  inscription  has  been  incised,  done,  beyond  doubt? 
in  the  first  year  of  pope  Hadrian,  a.d.  772,  when  the  diptych  was 
given  to  some  church  for  sacred  use.  The  list  of  names  inscribed, 
to  be  prayed  for,  includes  that  of  the  donor. 

The  two  inscriptions  are  to  be  read  across  both  divisions, 
and  were  engraved  probably  upon  the  ivory  by  some  one  not 
well  skilled  in  the  language.  There  are  several  faults,  both  in 
spelhng  and  in  the  letters  :  for  example,  we  have  gto\i€V  ; 
©ewTw/co?  ;  eXeco?  ;  and  i  often  instead  of  77. 

The  inscription  is  to  this  effect  :  "  >Jj  Let  us  stand  well. 
^  Let  us  stand  with  reverence.  ^  Let  us  stand  with  fear.  Let 
us  attend  upon  the  holy  oblation,  that  in  peace  we  may  make  the 
offering  to  God.  The  mercy,  the  peace,  the  sacrifice  of  praise, 
the  love  of  God  and  of  the  Father  and  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ 
be  upon  us.  Amen.  In  the  first  year  of  Adrian,  patriarch  of  the 
city.  Remember,  Lord,  thy  servant  John,  the  least  priest  of 
the  church  of  St.  Agatha.  Amen.  ^  Remember,  Lord,  thy 
servant  Andrew  Machera.  Holy  Mother  of  God ;  holy  Agatha, 
>J<  Remember,  Lord,  thy  servant  and  our  pastor  Adrian  the 
patriarch,  i>5<  Remember,  Lord, -thy  servant,  the  sinner,  John  the 
priest." 

Another  example  is  the  diptych  of  Anastasius,  a.d.  517,  of 
which  one  leaf,  n°-  368,  is  in  the  South  Kensington  collection. 
Upon  this  leaf  the  portion  of  a  single  word  "  GISI "  is  now  alone 
to  be  deciphered ;  when  Wiltheim  saw  it,  more  than  a  hundred 
years  ago  at  Liege,  he  read  "IGISI,"  and  supposed  it  to  be  part 
of  the  name  of  Ebregisus,  the  twenty-fourth  bishop  of  Tongres,  in 


IVORIES.  39 

the  seventh  century.  But  upon  the  other  leaf,  which  is  now  pre_ 
served  at  BerUn,  Gori  was  able  to  make  out  a  considerable  portion. 
"  Offerentes  .  .  .  O  .  •  .  eorum  p.  pi  .  .  .  ecclesia 
catholica  quam  eis  dominus  adsignare  dignetur  .  .  .  facientes 
commemorationem  beatissiniorum  apostolorum  et  martyrum  omni- 
umque  sanctomm.  Sanctse  Marine  Virginis,  Petri,  Pauli,  etc^ 
But  he  owns  that  some  even  of  these  words  are  conjectural. 

The  diptych  of  Justinianus,  in  the  public  library  at  Paris, 
is  one  more  example  of  the  same  kind.  Inside  are  written  litanies 
of  the  ninth  century,  with  the  names  of  saints  inserted  who  were 
particularly  revered  at  Autun. 

Another  half  of  a  consular  diptych  may  be  mentioned,  a  single 
leaf,  in  which  instance  the  original  carving  has  not  only  been 
removed  but  the  ivory  has  been  sawn  into  two  pieces.  As  it 
happens,  both  fragments  are  in  this  country — one  in  the  British 
museum,  the  other  in  the  South  Kensington  collection,  n°-  266. 
The  two  together  have  still  sufficient  traces  left  to  enable  us 
to  recognise  the  old  design  :  a  consul  seated  in  the  usual  way, 
under  a  round  arch.  Below,  there  seem  to  have  been  the  two 
boys  or  servants  emptying  their  sacks  of  money  and  presents. 

This  mutilation  occurred  about  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  ; 
and  the  other  side  of  the  leaf  was  then  carved  with  subjects  taken 
from  the  gospels.  It  was  an  unnecessary  injury  to  destroy  and 
plane  away  the  first  design.  As  the  new  purpose  was  probably  to 
decorate  the  panels  of  some  shrine  or  book-cover,  the  old  carvings 
might  have  been  concealed  when  the  plaques  were  inlaid,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  very  curious  pieces  were  treated,  now  at 
South  Kensington,  n°^-  253,  254,  and  257. 

It  would  be  a  subject  far  too  extensive  to  attempt  to  give  a 
history  of  the  use  and  purpose  of  diptychs  in  the  public  service  of 
the  Christian  Church.  Their  origin  is  to  be  traced  to  the  very 
earliest  times  ;  perhaps  to  the  apostolic  age.  Mention  is  made 
of  them  in  the  liturgy  of  St.  Mark.  Gori  (or  his  author)  quotes  also 
the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  of  Dionysius  the  Areopagite.     This  is 


40  IVORIES. 

certainly  not  the  writing  of  the  true  Dionysius,  the  contemporary 
of  St.  Pauh  Yet,  putting  the  pseudo-Dionysius  as  late  as  the  fifth 
century,  his  evidence  is  valuable,  and  he  speaks  of  the  use  of 
diptychs  as  of  things  long  known. 

Numerous  treaties  and  dissertations,  even  long  books,  have 
been  written  on  the  subject ;  and  it  would  be  idle  work  to  repeat 
the  names  of  the  authors  who  are  referred  to,  over  and  over  again, 
by  most  writers  on  ivory  carvings.  In  fact,  the  learning  which 
some  of  these  exhibit  might  much  better  have  been  shown  if  their 
subject  had  been  the  primitive  history  and  practices  of  the  Church. 
Except  to  state  the  mere  fact  of  their  use,  the  connection  of  cere- 
monial ecclesiastical  diptychs  with  sculpture  in  ivory  requires  only 
a  few  remarks. 

The  common  use  of  such  diptychs  is  well  and  shortly  summed 
up  in  a  dissertation  printed  by  Gori  in  his  Thesaurus.  The 
summary  may  be  given  in  few  words,  and,  moreover,  the  disser- 
tation itself  is  written  in  explanation  of  the  diptych  of  the  consul 
Clementinus  just  mentioned,  which  we  are  now  fortunate  enough 
to  possess  in  England,  in  the  Mayer  collection  at  Liverpool.  Inside 
the  leaves,  as  has  been  already  observed,  is  an  inscription  in  Greek 
of  the  eighth  century,  to  be  read  during  mass,  desiring  the  people 
to  be  devout  and  reverent  and  to  pray  for  the  persons  whose  names 
were  to  be  recited. 

The  Christian  diptychs  were  intended  for  four  purposes.  First 
come  those  in  which  the  names  of  all  the  baptised  were  entered,  a 
kind  of  Fasti  ecdesicB,  and  answering  to  the  registers  kept  now  in 
every  parish.  Second,  those  in  which  were  recorded  the  names  of 
bishops  and  of  all  who  had  made  offerings  to  the  church  or  other 
benefactions.  This  list  included  the  names  of  many  persons  still 
living.  Third,  those  in  which  were  recorded  the  names  of  saints 
and  martyrs ;  and,  naturally,  in  various  places  the  names  would  be 
particularly  of  saints  who  in  their  lives  had  been  connected  with 
the  locality.  Such  additions  are  of  the  utmost  importance  in  tracing 
the  history  of  ancient  lists  which  have  come  down  to  our  own  time. 


IVORIES.  41 

Diptychs  of  this  class  were  read  aloud  at  mass,  as  a  sign  of  the 
communion  between  the  Church  triumphant  and  the  Church  mili- 
tant on  earth.  Fourth,  those  in  which  were  written  the  names  of 
dead  members  of  the  particular  church  or  district,  who  having  died 
in  the  true  faith  and  with  the  rites  of  the  church  were  to  be  remem- 
bered at  mass. 

As  regards  the  living,  the  continuance  of  their  names  in  the 
diptychs  was  of  the  highest  consequence  ;  to  be  erased  was  equal 
to  the  denunciation  of  them  as  heretics  and  unworthy  of  com- 
munion. 

In  the  diptychs  also  were  probably  sometimes  added  the  names 
of  people  who  were  sick  or  in  trouble. 

But  besides  these  four  objects  for  which  Christian  diptychs 
were  made,  there  was  another  which  must  certainly  have  caused 
the  production  of  many  large  sculptured  works  in  ivory  from 
the  seventh  to  the  tenth  century  :  namely,  for  the  purpose  of 
exciting  devotion  and  as  a  means  also  of  teaching  the  igno- 
rant. Ivory  tablets  or  diptychs  of  this  description  are  ordered 
to  be  exposed  to  the  people  in  the  old  Ambrosian  rite  for  the 
church  of  Milan. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  relics  in  ivory  was  executed  about 
the  middle  of  the  sixth  century ;  the  throne  or  chair  made  for 
Maximian,  archbishop  of  Ravenna  from  the  year  546  to  556.  This 
is  now  preserved  among  the  treasures  of  the  cathedral  at  Ravenna, 
and  is  engraved  in  the  great  book  of  Du  Sommerard,  and  by 
Labarte  in  his  handbook.  The  chair  has  a  high  back,  round  in 
shape,  and  is  entirely  covered  with  plaques  of  ivory,  arranged  in 
panels  richly  carved  in  high  relief  with  scenes  from  the  gospels  and 
with  figures  of  saints.  The  plaques  have  borders  with  foliated  orna- 
ments ;  birds  and  animals,  flowers  and  fruits,  filling  the  intermediate 
spaces.  Dii  Sommerard  names  amongst  the  most  remarkable  sub- 
jects, the  annunciation,  the  adoration  of  the  wise  men,  the  flight 
into  Egypt,  and  the  baptism  of  our  Lord.  Sir  Digby  Wyatt  (in  his 
lecture  before  the  Arundel  society)  says  that  this  chair,  having 


42  IVORIES. 

"  always  been  carefully  preserved  as  a  holy  relic,  has  fortunately 
escaped  destruction  and  desecration ;  and,  but  for  the  beautiful  tint 
with  which  time  has  invested  it,  would  wear  an  aspect  little  different 
from  that  which  it  originally  presented  in  the  lifetime  of  the  illus- 
trious prelate  for  whom  it  was  made.  This  valuable  object  could 
hardly  have  been  all  wrought  at  one  time,  as  Dr.  Kugler  distinctly 
traces  in  it  the  handling  of  three  different  artists,  who  could  scarcely 
have  all  lived  at  the  same  period.  Some  of  the  plates  resemble 
diptychs.  Thus,  the  series  pourtraying  the  history  of  Joseph  in 
Egypt  is  quite  classical ;  another,  and  less  able  artist  in  the  same 
style,  provided  the  plates  for  the  back,  and  in  one  set  of  five 
single  figures  the  Greek  artificer  stands  apparent.  The  simplest 
explanation  appears  to  be  that  the  throne  was  made  up  by  the 
last-mentioned  artist  out  of  materials  provided  for  him,  and  that 
what  was  wanting  to  make  it  entire  was  supplied  by  him." 
Probably  the  different  plaques  were  carved  by  several  sculp- 
tors ;  but  Dr.  Kugler's  supposition  that  the  whole  chair  was 
not  made  by  contemporary  artists  (in  short,  at  one  time)  is 
scarcely  probable. 

Speaking  of  and  praising  the  Ravenna  chair,  Passeri  offers  some 
very  useful  remarks  by  way  of  caution  against  the  hasty  conclusions 
which  some  make,  who  set  down  all  ancient  large  plaques  of  ivory 
as  having  been  the  leaves  of  diptychs  :  "  Vidi  etiam  Ravennae  in 
chartophilacio  principis  ecclesise  sedem  eburneam  sancti  Maximiani 
episcopi  quinto  seculo  operosissime  efformatam,  cujus  ambitum  un- 
dequaque  adornant  tabulae  eburnese  amplitudinis  fere  sesquipedalis, 
quam  plerumque  ebur  patitur  anaglyph©  opere,  et  scitissima  manu 
elaboratse,  quae  si  disjectae  et  singulares  occurrent  imprudentibus 
facile  imponerent,  ut  inter  diptycha  censerentur.  Nee  ista  nominis 
quaestio  est,  nam  longe  alia  mente  explicandae  sunt  missiles  consu- 
lum  tabellae,  atque  in  illis  expressa  emblemata,  quae  omnia  ad  con- 
sulatum  ejusque  pompas  pertinent,  alia  vero  sculpturae  omnes,  qua£ 
in  alium  usum  parabantur.  Haec  observatio  facile  prodit  errorem 
illorum,  qui  diptychis  adcensuerunt  laterculos,  nullo  consule  desig- 


IVORIES.  43 

natos,  cum  musaram,  poetarum,  Bacchantum  ac  deorum  imaginibus, 
quEe  mihi  nullam  aliam  ingenmt  speciem,  quani  quod  aliquando 
libros  contexerint,  quibus  parerga  adluderent.  Sunt  prseterea  quDS- 
dam  imperatorum  inferioris  cevi  simulacra  tabellis  eburneis  incisa^ 
in  quibus  nulla  cardinum  vestigia  apparent,  ut  potius  videatur  sedes 
honorarias  decorasse,  quam  quod  diptychorum  loco  essent,  quum 
prgesertim  exterior  illorum  ornatus  superne  in  acutum  desinat ;  quod 
a  diptychorum  instituto  quam  maxime  abhorret." 


CHAPTER   V. 


About  the  time  when  the  chair  of  Ravenna  was  made,  that  is,  in 
the  sixth  century,  sculpture  in  ivory  again  sensibly  declined.  The 
figures  in  Byzantine  work  of  that  period  begin  to  be  characterised 
by  sharpness  and  meagreness  of  form,  and  lengthiness  of  proportion ; 
in  the  heads,  however,  we  yet  find  a  good  expression ;  and  espe- 
cially in  representations  of  our  Lord  dignity  and  resignation.  The 
costume  also  gradually  became  more  and  more  covered  with  orna- 
ments and  jewels  ;  although  the  ancient  classical  robes  were  still 
copied,  and  apostles  were  clothed  in  togas,  or  the  virgin  in  a 
chlamys  and  tunic,  or  the  magi  in  Phrygian  caps. 

Troubles,  moreover,  arose,  and  about  the  year  750  there  sprang 
up  in  the  east  very  bitter  theological  quarrels,  especially  having 
reference  to  the  lawfulness  of  the  use  of  images,  not  only  in 
churches  but  for  private  devotion.  The  spirit  of  Mahometanism, 
strictly  and  dogmatically  condemning  without  distinction,  whether 
in  sculpture  or  in  paintings,  all  representations  of  the  deity  and  of 
man,  first  shown  in  the  near  neighbourhood  of  the  Holy  Land, 
spread  rapidly  from  one  country  to  another.  The  Christian  icono- 
clasts of  Constantinople,  even  if  they  did  not  follow  the  heresy  of 
Mahomet  in  this  matter  to  its  fullest  extent,  at  least  equalled  it 
in  hatred  of  all  holy  images  and  sacred  sculpture,  and  in  the 
severity  with  which  they  persecuted  the  workers  and  purchasers  of 
such  works.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  the  power 
and  influence  of  these  fanatics  reached  their  height,  and  Avith  Leo 


IVORIES.  45 

the  Isaurian  on  the  throne  received  the  fullest  support  which  an 
■emperor  could  give.  We  must  attribute  to  the  rage  of  the  icono- 
clasts, indiscriminating  in  its  fury,  not  only  the  destruction  of 
Christian  monuments  and  sculpture  (and  especially  those  which 
were  said  to  be  miraculous,  a-)(etpo'TroirjraL)  but  of  many  of  the 
most  important  and  most  valuable  remains,  then  still  existing,  of 
the  best  periods  of  ancient  Greek  art.  This  persecution  continued 
for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  until  the  reign  of  Basil  the  Mace- 
donian, A.D.  867  ;  who,  by  permitting  again  the  right  use  of  images, 
restored  to  the  arts  their  free  exercise. 

In  consequence  of  these  excesses  in  the  east  the  west  of  Europe 
gained  greatly.  Not  only  works  of  art  were  brought  by  fugitives 
from  Constantinople  to  France,  Germany,  and  other  countries, 
thus  furnishing  models  from  which  copies  could  be  multiplied  and 
a  better  taste  introduced,  but  the  workmen  and  artists  themselves, 
driven  into  exile,  came  and  were  hospitably  received  and  founded 
everywhere  new  schools  of  art.  Charlemagne  especially,  too  wise  a 
prince  to  overlook  the  certain  benefits  and  advantages  which  were 
thus  oftered,  liberally  patronised  the  strangers  and  gave  them  his 
assistance  and  protection  everywhere. 

Some  writers  of  great  authority  upon  paintings  have  said  that 
the  iconoclast  emigration  did  not  much  influence  art  in  Rome  and 
Italy.  The  Roman  artists,  as  shown  in  the  few  mosaics  which 
remain,  "  trod  the  path  of  decline,  independent  in  their  weakness. 
To  the  faults  which  had  been  confirmed  by  centuries  of  existence, 
others  were  superadded.  To  absence  of  composition,  of  balance 
in  distribution  and  connection  between  figures,  were  added  neglect 
and  emptiness  of  form,  a  general  sameness  of  feature,  and  the  total 
disappearance  of  relief  by  shadow.  Still  the  reminiscence  of  antique 
feeling  remained  in  certain  types,  in  a  sort  of  dignity  of  expression 
and  attitude,  and  in  breadth  of  draperies,  which,  though  defined  by 
parallel  lines,  were  still  massive."  Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle,  from 
whom  the  quotation  is  taken,  may  not  intend,  however,  to  include 
in  this  statement  sculptures  in  ivory. 


46 


IVORIES. 


There  are  still  remaining,  in  the  collections  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  some  examples  of  carved  ivories  from  the  fifth  century  to 
the  time  of  Charlemagne.     The  woodcut  represents  one  of ^ the 

most  important  and  remark- 
able works  known  of  this 
period.  Although  there  is  a 
great  similarity  of  style  between 
this  ivory  and  a  silver  vase  of 
the  sixth  century  in  the  Blacas 
collection,  in  the  British  mu- 
seum, there  is  still  difficulty 
in  suggesting  even  a  probable 
date,  which  can  scarcely  be 
later  than  the  early  part  of  the 
seventh  century;  nor  is  it  more 
easy  to  speculate  on  the  origi- 
nal use  of  the  vase.  A  loose 
ring,  cut  from  the  same  block 
of  ivory,  surrounds  the  foot ; 
and,  if  the  vase  was  made  for 
some  very  sacred  purpose,  we 
may  suppose  that  the  ring  car- 
ried a  thin  veil  to  be  thro\^Ti 
over  the  whole  for  further  se- 
curity and  reverence.  The 
cover  is  of  later  date,  and 
where  the  ivory  has  cracked 
there  is  a  repair  excellently 
done  by  some  mediaeval  jewel- 
ler with  a  small  gold  chain 
which  extends  from  the  rim  downwards  about  two  inches.  This 
piece  is  in  the  British  museum. 

Unlike  the  vase,  which  is  good  both  in  design  and  workman- 
ship, the  early  ivories  of  western  Europe  are  rude  and  many  of 


IVORIES.  47. 

them  even  barbarous  in  manner  and  workmanship ;  but  about  the 
year  800  a  sure  result  of  the  influx  of  Greek  artists  is  to  be  seen, 
and  the  style  advanced  with  a  very  evident  progression,  subject 
only  to  a  short  interval  of  deterioration  at  the  end  of  the  tenth 
century.  After  this  brief  check  there  followed  a  distinct  improve- 
ment, impressed,  however,  with  a  feeling  and  type  peculiar  to  the 
eleventh  and  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century.  We  find  the  figures 
calm  and,  as  it  were,  collected  in  design,  but  placed  in  stiff  and 
unnatural  positions,  the  draperies  close  and  clinging  and  broken 
up  into  numerous  little  folds,  ornamented  also  still  more  largely 
than  before  with  small  jewels  or  beads.  The  school  of  the  lower 
Rhine  kept  itself  to  a  certain  extent  free  from  these  faults  ;  their 
figures  preserved  more  movement,  their  modelling  was  better,  their 
draperies  more  natural  and  disposed  with  greater  art. 

Christianity  spread  gradually  though  slowly  over  western 
Europe  from  the  age  of  Charlemagne,  and,  as  it  spread,  ivory  was 
used  more  aad  more  for  the  decoration  of  ecclesiastical  furniture, 
especially  of  books  and  reliquaries.  The  adaptation  of  the  large 
tablets  given  by  the  consuls  has  been  already  spoken  of :  and  not 
only  were  the  old  diptychs  still  remaining  in  the  seventh  or  eighth 
centuries  applied  to  their  new  purpose  for  the  public  services  of 
the  church,  but  many  new  diptychs  must  also  have  been  provided. 
Pyxes  for  the  consecrated  and  unconsecrated  wafers,  retables  or 
ornamented  screens  to  be  placed  upon  altars,  holy  water  buckets, 
handles  for  flabella,  episcopal  combs,  croziers,  and  pastoral  staffs 
were  made  in  fast  increasing  numbers. 

There  is  ample  evidence,  not  only  from  examples  which  have 
been  preserved  down  to  our  own  times  but  from  contemporary 
writers,  of  the  large  extent  to  which  the  employment  of  ivory 
reached  in  the  Carlovingian  period,  from  the  end  of  the  eighth  to 
the  middle  of  the  tenth  century.  Eginhard,  writing  to  his  son, 
sends  him  a  coffer  made  by  a  contemporary  artist,  enriched  with 
columns  of  ivory  after  the  antique  style  ;  Hildoward,  bishop  of 
Cambrai,  A.D,  790,  orders  a  diptych  of  ivory  to  be  made  for  him 


48  IVORIES. 

in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  pontificate  :  an  inventory  of  Louis  le 
Debonnaire,  in  823,  mentions  a  diptych  of  ivory,  a  statuette,  and 
a  coffer ;  his  son-in-law,  count  Everard,  leaves  in  his  will  writing 
tablets,  a  chalice  and  coffer,  an  evangelisterium  ornamented  with 
bas-reliefs,  and  a  sword  and  belt  with  similar  decorations,  all  of 
ivory ;  Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  in  845,  orders  covers  to 
be  made  for  the  works  of  St.  Jerome  with  plaques  of  ivorj',  and 
also  for  a  sacramentary  and  lectionary. 

Several  of  the  most  important  of  the  existing  examples  of  this 
famous  Carlovingian  school  are  named  in  Labarte's  useful  book  '• 
among  them,  especially,  the  diptych  preserved  in  the  treasury  of 
the  cathedral  of  Milan,  and  of  which  a  plate  is  given  in  the  album, 
pi.  xiii. ;  the  two  plaques  which  form  the  cover  of  the  sacramentary 
of  Metz,  now  in  the  public  library  at  Paris  ;  and  a  bas-relief  of  a 
book  of  gospels  at  Tongres,  in  the  diocese  of  Liege,  remarkable 
for  the  simplicity  of  the  composition,  the  soberness  of  its  ornamen- 
tation and  correctness  of  design,  all  of  which  qualities  are  frequent 
characteristics  of  the  work  of  the  ninth  century. 

Georgius  says  that  the  very  ancient  tabular  ebnrnece  which  he 
saw  in  the  church  of  St.  Riquier  in  Picardy  ( Centidensi  thesauro), 
and  those  given  to  his  church  by  Riculfus,  bishop  of  Elne,  in  Nar- 
bonne,  a.d.  915,  were  sacred  diptychs. 

Mr.  Oldfield  gives  an  excellent  selection  of  Carlovingian  ivories 
in  his  catalogue  of  the  casts  of  the  Arundel  society,  classes  4,  5, 
and  6. 

In  the  same  period  we  must  also  place,  contrary  to  the  judg- 
ment of  Du  Sommerard,  who  would  suggest  an  earlier  date,  a  book 
cover  in  the  public  library  at  Amiens,  carved  with  the  baptism  of 
Clovis  and  with  two  miracles  of  Remigius.  On  the  next  page  is 
an  engraving  of  this  plaque  from  Lacroix's  book  on  the  arts  of 
the  middle  ages.  In  the  scene  of  the  baptism  of  Clovis,  which 
occupies  the  lowest  of  the  three  compartments,  the  dove  is  seen 
descending  upon  the  head  of  the  king  with  the  famous  ampulla  and 
sacred  oil  used  in  the  coronations  of  the  sovereigns  of  France. 


so  IVORIES. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  perhaps  to  remark  that  the  holy  water 
buckets  above  mentioned,  p.  47,  are  not  to  be  confounded  with 
stoups ;  the  one  was  carried  by  an  acolyte  in  attendance  on  the 
priest,  the  other  fixed  against  the  wall  at  the  entrance  of  the  church. 
That  situlce-  or  buckets  were  made  of  ivory,  and  for  the  especial 
purpose  just  named,  is  certain  from  an  example  preserved  in  the 
treasury  of  the  cathedral  of  Milan,  which  is  engraved  in  the  ap- 
pendix to  the  third  volume  of  Gori's  Thesaurus.  This  sihda  is  richly 
•carved  with  scripture  subjects  and  round  the  upper  border  is 
incised  the  legend, 

"  Vates  Ambrosii  Gotfredus  dat  tibi  sancte, 

Vas  veniente  sacram  spargendum  Csesare  l3nnphain. " 

•Gotfred  was  archbishop  of  Milan  in  the  year  975. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


As  time  went  on,  crucifixes,  statuettes,  triptychs,  diptychs,  and 
other  portable  helps  to  private  devotion  were  made  in  ivory  in 
great  quantity  ;  a  consequence  probably  of  the  repeated  travels  of 
men  to  the  east  during  the  cnisades.  The  term  triptych  for  re- 
ligious tablets  composed  of  a  centre  piece  and  of  one  wing  on  each 
side,  sufficient  in  width  when  folded  to  cover  the  centre,  is  com- 
monly used  in  the  description  of  various  collections  of  ivories, 
because,  whether  or  not  exactly  right,  it  is  perfectly  well  understood 
and  fully  explains  itself.  Indeed,  although  triptych  or  pentaptych 
or  polyptych  may,  in  strictness  and  in  its  first  signification,  mean 
only  (as  it  might  happen)  three  or  five  or  many  leaves  fastened 
together  on  one  side  by  hinges  or  threads  like  the  leaves  of  a 
book,  yet  the  name  triptych  may  be  fairly  applied  to  tablets 
two  of  which  hinge  on  the  outside  edges  of  the  opposite  sides 
of  the  third,  and  are  intended  to  fold  across  and  cover  it. 
Where  these  wings  are  made,  in  order  to  surround  the  centre, 
of  more  than  two  pieces  (and  in  such  cases  they  generally  inclose 
and  protect  also  some  larger  carving  or  a  statuette)  the  name 
shrine  seems  to  be  more  appropriate  and  better  to  describe  the 
object. 

Triptychs  are  spoken  of  more  than  once  by  Anastasius,  the 
author  of  the  Liber  Pontificalis.  For  example,  in  his  life  of  pope 
Hadrian,  a.d.  772,  he  mentions  one  which  had  in  the  centre  the 
face  of  our  Saviour,  and  on  each  wing  images  of  angels.     It  is 


52  IVORIES. 

greatly  to  be  regretted  that  Anastasius  is  so  miserably  concise  in 
his  description  of  the  marvellous  works  of  art  which  he  enu- 
merates. We  look  in  vain  for  any  details  or  for  the  name  of  a 
single  artist. 

The  use  of  ivory  in  the  middle  ages,  from  the  eighth  to  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  not  confined  to  church  and 
pious  purposes.  It  was  adopted  for  numberless  things  of  common 
life.  Not  for  common  people  perhaps,  because  its  value  and  rarity 
were  too  great ;  but  for  the  daily  use  of  wealthy  persons.  Caskets 
and  coffers,  horns,  hilts  of  weapons,  mirror  cases,  toilet  combs, 
writing-tablets,  book-covers,  chessmen  and  draughtsmen,  were 
either  made  entirely  of  ivory,  walrus  and  elephant,  or  were  largely 
inlaid  and  ornamented  with  it.  Examples  of  works  of  each  of 
these  kinds  are  to  be  found  in  the  South  Kensington  museum ; 
and  with  regard  to  some  of  them  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  few 
remarks. 

First,  to  take  caskets.  The  most  beautiful  of  these  is  no.  146, 
a  work  of  the  fourteenth  century.  This  is  richly  decorated  on  the 
top  and  the  four  sides  with  subjects  taken  from  romances,  then 
well  known  and  commonly  read.  Other  caskets  may  be  noticed, 
nos.  216  and  2440,  which  are  of  earlier  date;  and  nos.  301  and 
10,  of  Spanish  work  in  a  remarkable  style,  half  Saracenic,  carrying 
down  to  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  century  the  peculiar  treatment  and 
ornamentation  shown  in  the  small  admirably  executed  round  box 
of  the  caliph  Mostanser  Billah,  no.  217.  There  are  many  plaques 
in  the  same  collection  which  probably  once  formed  portions  of 
coffers  or  caskets  ;  some  of  them  reaching  as  far  back  as  the  ninth 
century  ;  but  it  is  not  possible  to  say  with  certainty  whether  they 
were  made  originally  for  that  purpose  or  not. 

The  most  curious  and  perhaps  the  most  valuable  old  English 
casket  existing  is  in  the  British  museum,  which  it  will  be  well  to 
notice  in  this  place  before  we  pass  to  other  examples  in  the  South 
Kensington  collection.  Engravings  (kindly  lent  by  Mr.  Franks) 
of  two  portions  of  it  are  also  given. 


IVORIES. 


53 


This  casket  is  of  the  eighth  century,  nine  inches  long,  seven 
and  a  half  in  width,  and  a  trifle  more  than  five  inches  in  height. 
The  material  is  not  ivory,  not  even  of  the  walrus,  but  of  the  bone 
of  a  whale.  Unfortunately  it  is  imperfect  and  in  parts  damaged  ; 
of  the  fourth  side  only  a  small  piece  remains.  The  cover  and  the 
sides  are  richly  carved  in  sharp  and  clear  relief  with  mythical  and 
scripture  subjects  ;  and  each  panel  has  a  runic  inscription  within  a 
broad  border,  except  the  top  on  which  one  word  only  is  carved, 
"  ^.gili." 

The  cover  has,  in  a  single  compartment,  men  in  armour  attacking 
a  house  which  is  defended  by  a  man  with  a  bow  and  arrow;  this 


panel  has  been  supposed  to  refer  to  some  local  circumstance,  and 
the  name  ^gili  is  to  be  read  with  the  two  words  upon  the  fourth 
side,  meaning  "  suffers  deceit  "  or  "  treachery."  One  side  has  the 
myth  of  Romulus  and  Remus :  the  two  infants  with  the  wolf  in  the 
middle;  on  either  side  shepherds  kneeling,  and  a  legend  explaining 
the  subject:  "Romulus  and  Remulus  [Remus]  twain  brothers  outlay 
[were  exposed]  close  together ;  a  she  wolf  fed  them  in  Rome  city." 
The  front  of  the  casket  has  two  compartments  ;  in  one,  the  giving 
up  the  head  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  whose  body  lies  stretched  upon 
the  ground  ;  the  other  has  the  offering  of  the  wise  men,  with  the 


54 


IVORIES. 


word   -''magi"   in  runes  above  them.     On  the  back  is  carved, 
above,  the  storming  of  Jerusalem  and  the  flight  of  the  Jews,  as 


explained  by  the  inscription  engraved  partly  in  runes,  partly  in 
Latin,  "  Here  fight  Titus  and  the  Jews.  Here  fly  from  Jerusalem 
its  inhabitants."  Below  are  two  other  subjects;  the  meaning  of 
them  very  obscure  :  to  one  is  attached  the  word  "  doom,"  to  the 
other  "  hostage  ; "  both  in  runes.  Round  the  whole  casket  an 
inscription  is  carved,  commemorating  the  taking  of  the  whale 
which  supplied  the  bone.     This  has  been  translated, 

"  The  whale's  bones  from  the  fishes  flood 
I  lifted  on  Fergen  Hill : 
He  was  gashed  to  death  in  his  gambols, 
As  a-gi-ound  he  swam  in  the  shallows." 

The  name  Fergen  occurs  in  a  charter  of  the  eleventh  century, 
and  has  been  identified  with  the  present  Ferry-hill,  in  the  county 
of  Durham. 

The  history  of  the  casket  is  very  short,  and  cannot  be  better 
stated  than  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Stephens  from  whose  book  on 
Runic  monuments,  a  work  of  much  interest,  the  above  description 
is  abridged.  He  says  that  it  "  is  one  of  the  costliest  treasures  of 
English  art  now  in  existence.     As  a  specimen  of  Northumbrian 


IVORIES.  55 

work  and  of  Northumbrian  folk-speech,  it  is  doubly  precious.  But 
we  know  nothing  of  its  history.  Probably,  as  the  gift  of  some 
English  priest  or  layman,  it  may  have  lain  for  centuries  in  the 
treasury  of  one  of  the  French  churches,  whence  it  came  into  the 
hands  of  a  well-known  dealer  in  antiquities  in  Paris.  There  it  was 
happily  seen  and  purchased,  some  years  ago,  by  our  distinguished 
archaeologist,  Aug.  W.  Franks,  Esq.  The  price  given  for  it  was 
very  great."  The  casket  has  been  most  liberally  presented  by 
Mr.  Franks  to  the  British  museum,  and  the  nation  (once  more 
to  quote  Mr.  Stephens)  "  is  now  in  possession  of  one  of  the 
greatest  rarities  in  Europe." 

There  are  several  other  coffers  or  caskets  in  the  South  Ken- 
sington collection  especially  worthy  of  remark.  Among  them  the 
Veroli  casket,  no.  216,  so  called  from  having  been  long  preserved 
in  the  treasury  of  the  cathedral  of  Veroli,  near  Rome,  from  whence 
it  was  obtained  in  1861.  This  is  the  most  perfect  example  known 
of  a  peculiar  style  of  art  which  prevailed  in  some  parts  of  Italy 
from  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  to  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century. 
At  first  sight  works  of  this  kind  might  almost  be  attributed  to 
a  time  as  early  as  the  third  or  fourth  century,  the  imitation  of 
the  classic  mode  of  treatment,  as  well  as  the  nature  often  of  the 
subjects  themselves,  favouring  such  a  supposition.  There  seems 
to  be  little  doubt,  however,  that  they  must  all  be  placed  at  a  much 
later  date. 

No  one  is  more  entitled  to  be  listened  to  on  any  disputed 
question  about  the  date  of  ivory  carvings  than  Mr.  Nesbitt.  He 
tells  us,  in  a  very  able  memoir  of  St.  Peter's  chair  at  Rome,  printed 
for  the  Society  of  antiquaries  (speaking  on  this  very  point),  that  he 
agrees  with  padre  Garrucci  in  the  opinion  that  works  like  the 
Veroli  casket  date  from  about  the  eleventh  century.  *'  They  are 
all  characterised  by  certain  peculiarities  and  mannerisms.  Among 
these  are  an  exaggerated  slenderness  of  limb,  a  marked  prominence 
of  the  knee-joints,  and  a  way  of  rendering  the  hair  by  a  mass  of 
small  knobs.  The  subjects  are  generally  taken  from  some  mytho- 
logical story,  and  some  work  of  classical  art  has,  in  many  cases. 


56 


IVORIES. 


evidently  been  copied  by  the  ivory  carver ;  but  the  story  is  often 
misunderstood  and  misrepresented,  and  the  movement  of  the 
figures  copied  with  so  much  exaggeration,  as  often  to  become  ridi- 
culous. Animals  are  generallyrepresentedwith  great  truth  and  spirit, 
and  in  very  natural  attitudes.  The  execution  is  usually  remarkably 
neat  and  sharp,  and  the  state  of  preservation  of  the  ivory  very 
good."  Caskets  of  this  style  and  date  almost  always  have  the 
panels  surrounded  by  the  same  kind  of  border  filled  with  rosettes. 
The  ivories  inserted  in  the  so-called  Chair  of  St.  Peter,  just 


.1  Li;/,Cl.j,d 


referred  to,  are  of  great  importance  upon  this  question.  The  woodcut 
shows,  in  a  general  way,  its  present  condition  and  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  carvings,  which  represent  the  labours  of  Hercules  : 


IVORIES. 


57 


and  the  student  should  read  Mr.  Nesbitt's  paper,  already  ([uoted 
from. 

There  is  a  very  curious  plaque  in  the  British  museum  which 
is  also  of  value  with  regard  to  the  date  of  such  works  as  the  Veroli 
casket.  It  has  been  perhaps  a  book-cover,  perhaps  a  panel  of  a 
reliquary.  The  chief  subject  is  Christ  in  glory,  carved  in  the 
stiff  Byzantine  manner  of  the  tenth  or  eleventh  century ;  and  in  the 
lower  left-hand  corner  is  a  group  of  boys,  having  the  peculiarities 
of  style  just  mentioned.  Mr.  Nesbitt  notices  another  example 
Avhich  may  be  found  engraved  in  the  Thesaurus  of  Gori :  "  a  tablet 
in  the  museum  at  Berlin,  on  which  Christ,  attended  by  angels,  is 
represented  in  the  usual  Byzantine  style,  while  below  are  the  forty 
saints  in  very  natural  attitudes,  and  with  much  truth  and  skill." 

The  woodcut  shows  the 
lid  of  a  small  casket  of, 
perhaps,  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury :  Spanish  work,  during 
the  period  of  the  occupation 
by  the  Moors  ;  and  there 
are  frequent  references  to 
ivory  coffers,  caskets,  and 
boxes,  in  inventories  and 
other  documents  of  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies. In  1502  the  following  entry  is  among  the  privy  purse 
expenses  of  Elizabeth  of  York  :  "  Item,  the  same  day  [the  28th 
day  of  May]  to  maistres  Alianor  Johns  for  money  by  hir  geven 
in  reward  to  a  servaunt  of  the  lady  Lovell  for  bringing  a  chest  of 
iverey  with  the  passion  of  our  Lord  thereon  :  iij  s  iiij  d."  This 
lady  Lovell  was  probably  the  wife  of  Sir  Thomas  Lovell,  treasurer 
of  the  household,  and  one  of  the  executors  of  the  will  of  Henry  the 
seventh. 

Six  or  seven  caskets  are  named  among  the  treasures  of  Lincoln 
cathedral  in  the  year  1536  :  two  "with  images  round  about."  In 
1 5 18  there  belonged  to  the  church  of  St.  Mary  Outwich,  London, 


58  IVORIES. 

"  a  box  of  eivery,  garnyshede  with  silver  "  according  to  "  the  en- 
ventorye  of  all  the  howrnaments  "  of  that  parish  :  and,  "item,  a 
box  of  yvory  with  xj  relyks  therein,"  In  1534,  "  a  litill  box  of 
ivery  bound  with  gymes  [gimmals]  of  silver"  was  among  the  goods 
of  the  guild  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  at  Boston  in  Lincolnshire. 
Nearly  a  hundred  years  before  there  was  "a.  lytill  yvory  cofyr  with 
relekys "  among  the  goods  belonging  to  the  church  of  St.  Mary 
Hill,  London., 

Going  back  to  earlier  times — and  not  to  quote  from  French  or 
German  documents  which  have  been  referred  to  by  foreign  writers 
— we  find  in  the  inventory  of  the  treasures  belonging  to  St.  Paul's 
cathedral  in  1295,  "Pixis  eburnea  fracta  in  fundo,  continens  unam 
parvam  pixidem  eburneam  vacuam."  "  Item,  dure  coffrae  eburnese 
modo  vacuse."  Other  caskets  are  mentioned;  one,  small  and 
beautiful,  with  lock  and  key  and  silver  clamps  ;  and  several  pyxes, 
containing  relics. 

So,  again,  there  were  in  the  treasury  at  Durham,  in  1383,  "an 
ivory  casket,  containing  a  vestment  of  St.  John  the  Baptist ;"  "a 
small  coffer  of  ivory,  containing  a  robe  of  St.  Cuthbert ; "  and  other 
"  ivory  caskets  with  divers  relics." 

Caskets  and  coffers  of  this  period  were  not  uncommonly  de- 
corated with  small  painted  medallions  of  coats  of  arms,  or  of  figures, 
as  in  the  woodcut  on  the  next  page.  Two  examples  are  in  the 
South  Kensington  museum,  nos.  1618  and  369. 

There  are  in  many  collections  ivory  boxes  of  round  shape, 
which  are  commonly  set  down  as  having  been  used  for  preserving 
the  consecrated  host  in  tabernacles,  or  for  carrying  it  to  the  sick. 
Frequently,  these  may  have  been  originally  made  for  that  purpose ; 
but  it  is  not  easy  always  to  determine  the  fact  exactly.  The  word 
Pyx  in  its  earliest  meaning  included  any  small  box  or  case,  and 
particularly  for  holding  ointments  or  spices ;  and  often,  when  we 
find  the  word  used  in  inventories  of  the  middle  ages,  it  is  further 
explained  as  containing  relics  or  other  things.  Thus,  there  was  in 
the  Durham  treasury  in  the  fourteenth  century  "  item,  a  tooth  of 


IVORIES. 


59 


St,  Gengulphus,  good  for  the  falling  sickness,  in  a  small  ivory  pyx"; 
and  in  St,  Paul's  cathedral,  about  the  same  time,  two  ivory  pyxes, 
one  containing  relics  of  St.  Augustine,  the  other  of  St.  Agnes.  Nor 
is  the  size  a  sure  guide  to  determine  the  doubt :  although  by  many 
people  all  small  round  boxes  of  ivory  would  seem  to  be  understood 


as  having  been  certainly  used  for  preserving  the  eucharist.  Du 
Cange  quotes  from  Leo  Ostiensis,  "in  pyxidulis  reliquiae  sanctorum 
reconditae  sunt."  On  the  other  hand,  there  can  be  no  question 
that  for  many  centuries,  and  more  especially  in  the  earlier  ages, 
round  boxes  of  ivory  were  in  constant  and  general  use  for  pre- 
serving and  carrying  the  Sacrament.  Thus  we  see  included 
amongst  the  property  belonging  to  the  church  of  St.  Faith,  under 


6o  IVORIES. 

St.  Paul's,  "  una  cupa  cuprea  deaurata,  cum  pyxide  ebumea  sine 
serura  interius  clausa,  in  qua  reponatur  eucharistia."  From  Wad- 
dingham,  in  Norfolk,  the  queen's  commissioners  report  in  1565 
that  they  have  destroyed  "  one  pyx  of  yvorie,  broken  in  peces." 
The  following  also  may  be  quoted  from  the  will  of  king  Henry  the 
seventh,  though  the  material  is  not  specified  :  "  Forasmuch  as  we 
have  often  to  our  inwarde  displeasure,  seen  in  diverse  churches  ot 
oure  Reame,  the  holy  Sacrament  kept  in  ful  simple  and  inhonest 
pixes,  we  have  commaunded  to  cause  to  be  made  furthwith  pixes,  in 
a  greate  nombre,  after  the  fashion  of  a  pixe  which  we  have  caused 
to  be  delyvered  to  theym,  etc." 

When,  therefore,  we  find  a  small  round  box  which  is  orna- 
mented with  subjects  from  the  Gospel  or  with  divine  types  and 
emblems  or  the  like,  we  may  safely  call  it  a  pyx,  in  its  proper 
ecclesiastical  meaning.  When  an  example  is  carved  with  subjects 
relating  to  any  saint  it  may  or  may  not  have  been  made  for  a 
sacramental  pyx  :  it  may  indeed  have  been  changed  from  its  first 
use  as  a  reliquary  and  afterwards  employed  for  the  more  sacred 
use.  Of  this  kind,  perhaps,  is  the  very  curious  round  box  of  the 
sixth  century  with  subjects  from  the  life  of  St.  Mennas,  exhibited 
in  1 87 1  by  Mr.  Nesbitt  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  of  antiquaries ; 
which  is  further  remarkable  as  being  the  earliest  known  repre- 
sentation on  an  ivory  box  of  events  in  the  life  of  a  saint. 

Du  Gauge  gives  references  to  three  English  provincial  synods 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  as  if  ivory  pyxes  were  distinctly  ordered 
by  their  canons.  But  it  is  not  so.  Order  is  merely  given  that  the 
Sacrament  should  be  reserved  and  carried  to  the  sick  in  proper 
pyxes  :  "in  pyxide  munda  et  honesta;"  again,  "circa  collum  suum 
in  theca  honesta,  pyxidem  deferat."  But  tlie  synod  of  Exeter  in 
12S7  is  more  precise  and  to  our  present  purpose,  which  orders  the 
priest  to  carry  the  eucharist  to  the  sick  "  in  pyxide  argentea  vel 
eburnea." 

We  find  from  inventories  printed  by  Dugdale  in  the  Monas- 
ticon  that  in  the  fourteenth  century,  a.d.  1384,  there  were  in  the 


IVORIES.  6 1 

treasury  of  St.  George's,  Windsor,  "  una  pixis  nobilis  eburnea, 
garnita  cum  luminibus  argenteis  deauratis,"  etc.  :  and  "  una  pixis 
de  eburneo  gemellato  argenteo,  cujus  coopertorium  frangitur."  In 
Lincoln  cathedral,  in  1557,  "A  round  pix  of  ivory,  having  a  ring  of 
silver  ; "  and  two  others,  both  of  ivory  with  similar  bands.  Four 
other  ivory  pyxes  are  named  in  the  earlier  inventory  of  the  same 
cathedral,  before  the  spoliation  in  1536. 

Two  other  very  important  and  beautiful  caskets,  at  South 
Kensington,  are  no.  176  and  no.  263.  The  subject  of  the  first  of 
these,  the  life  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  is  unusual,  although  that  may 
probably  be  not  because  it  was  unusual  at  the  time  but  because 
very  few  examples  have  been  preserved.  The  panels  of  the  other 
are  most  richly  carved  and  in  the  best  style  of  the  fourteenth 
century  with  scenes  from  the  life  of  St.  Margaret. 


CHAPTER  VIL 


The  famous  romances  of  the  middle  ages  supplied  endless 
subjects  for  sculptors  in  ivory  as  well  as  for  the  painter,  the 
illuminator,  and  the  enameller.  They  may  be  referred,  in  general, 
to  four  classes,  of  which  the  first  and  the  fourth  seem  to  have  been 
the  favourite  sources  from  which  were  taken  the  decorations  of 
caskets  and  mirror  cases.  They  were — i.  Those  relating  to 
Arthur  and  the  knights  of  the  round  table.  2.  Those  connected 
with  Charlemagne  and  his  paladins.  3.  The  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
romances,  which  chiefly  contain  the  adventures  of  Amadis  and 
Palmerin.  4.  What  may  be  termed  classical  romances,  which 
represent  the  heroes  of  antiquity  in  the  guise  of  romantic  fiction  : 
such,  for  example,  as  the  romance  of  Virgil,  of  Jason,  or  of  Alex- 
ander. To  these  may  be  added  one  more,  the  romance  of  the  Rose, 
an  allegorical  poem  which  was  probably  more  widely  read  than 
any  other  of  the  time.  From  this,  realising  an  allegory,  came  the 
frequent  subject  of  the  siege  of  the  castle  of  Love.  Many  of  the 
romances  were  written  both  in  prose  and  verse  :  three  splendid 
volumes,  French  manuscripts  of  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  in  the  British  museum,  contain  the  Saint  Graal  and 
Lancelot  du  Lac.  The  histories  of  Merlin,  Perceval,  Meliadus, 
Tristan,  and  Perceforest  were  also  amongst  the  most  popular. 

The  French  manuscripts  just  referred  to  {additional,  10,292) 
are  full  of  illuminations,  some  illustrating  in  an  especial  way  the 
carvings   on  ivories  of  tlie  same  date.      Another,  of  the  same 


IVORIES.  63 

character  and  of  like  interest  and  value,  is  in  the  Bodleian  :  the 
romance  of  Alexander. 

The  romance  of  the  Rose  was  a  dull  and  monotonous  poem  of 
perhaps  ten  thousand  lines,  from  which  for  nearly  three  hundred 
years  its  readers,  if  they  looked  at  it  with  pious  and  religious  eyes, 
learnt  their  maxims  of  morality,  of  science,  and  philosophy.  Others, 
again,  read  it  as  men  now  read  Ovid's  Art  of  love  and  saw  nothing 
of  its  mysticism  or  scholastic  subtleties.  It  was  \vritten  somewhere 
about  the  year  1300,  and,  with  the  omission  of  some  five  thousand 
lines  in  the  middle,  Chaucer's  translation  is  very  accurate  and  good. 
It  was  frequently  moralised  :  in  France,  by  Clement  Marot ;  and 
in  England  (perhaps  from  the  French  also)  long  before,  by  Grosse- 
teste,  bishop  of  Lincoln.  These  made  the  Rose  to  be  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  the  towers  and  the  defences  of  the  castle  are  the  four 
■cardinal  virtues,  and  holy  chastity,  and  buxomness,  and  meekness. 
The  castle  itself  is  thus  described  : 

"  This  is  the  castel  of  love  and  lisse, 
Of  solace,  of  socour,  of  joye,  and  blisse, 
Of  hope,  of  hele,  of  sikernesse, 
And  ful  of  alle  swetnesse." 

Among  the  many  fictions  which  were  founded  on  the  traditions 
of  king  Arthur  none  were  more  common  or  better  known  than 
those  which  related  the  love  adventures  of  Lancelot  and  queen 
Guinevre ;  and  of  Tristan  and  Isoude,  the  queen  of  Mark  king  of 
Cornwall.  Subjects  from  both  these  tales  are  frequent  on  ivory 
caskets  and  mirror  cases.  The  disgrace  of  Aristotle  comes  from 
the  romance  of  Alexander ;  and  from  that  of  Virgil  we  have  the 
poet  in  his  mediseval  character  of  magician.  Both  the  poet  and  the 
philosopher,  in  spite  of  their  great  age  and  wisdom,  are  made  fools 
of  by  the  ladies  of  the  story.  One  is  induced  to  carry  his  mistress 
on  his  back,  the  other  is  hauled  up  in  a  basket  to  a  window  and 
left  there  dangling  at  sunrise  before  all  the  people. 

We  must  not  leave  caskets  without  mention  of  the  very  graceful 
open  work  with  which  the  panels  of  many  of  them  were  often 


64 


IVORIES. 


decorated,  and  which  have  come  down  to  us  (speaking  generally) 
only  in  parts  or  fragments.     Two  woodcuts  are  given  here,  full  size, 


from  a  series  of  small  panels,  formerly  in  the  Meyrick  collection, 
which  is,  unhappily,  now  dispersed. 

The  South  Kensington  museum  is  rich  also  in  the  marriage 
coffers,  as  they  are  commonly  called,  of  Italian  work  of  about  the 
fourteenth  century.  Coffers  of  this  kind,  such,  for  example,  as  the 
small  casket  (in  the  two  woodcuts)  no.  2563,  were  seldom  executed 


IVORIES.  65 

in  ivory :  almost  always  in  bone  of  fine  quality,  sometimes  nearly 
€qual  to  ivory  in  delicacy  of  grain  and  colour.  It  is  probably 
owing  to  their  general  use  in  Italy  at  that  time  that  ivory  could  not 
be  obtained  in  sufficient  quantity,  except  at  great  cost ;  for  the 
workmanship  is  frequently  that  of  artists  who  must  have  been  of 
the  highest  eminence  as  sculptors.  One  of  the  most  interesting  of 
the  marriage  caskets  in  the  South  Kensington  museum  is  no.  5624 
formerly  in  the  Soulages  collection,  of  which  there  is  almost  a 
•duplicate  in  the  public  library  at  Paris. 

Lenormant,  in  the  Tre'sor  de  glyptique,  has  given  three  plates 
of  the  Paris  casket  and  says  also  that  another,  exactly  like  it  was 
(when  he  wrote)  in  the  possession  of  M.  D'Assy,  of  Meaux. 

The  largest  casket  of  this  kind  in  England  is  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  Julian  Goldsmid.  It  is  in  excellent  preservation  and  well 
finished  in  every  respect.  The  size  is  certainly  unusual :  two  feet 
three  inches  in  height,  two  feet  and  a  half  long,  and  two  feet  broad. 
The  separate  bones  which  ornament  it  are  filled  with  shields  and 
.armorial  bearings ;  ten  on  the  front  and  back,  seven  on  each  side. 
The  mouldings  at  the  top  are  richly  decorated  with  bold  scrolls  of 
foliage  and  animals.  The  top  of  the  coffer  and  the  side  mouldings 
are  marquetry,  inlaid  in  diamond-shaped  quarries  with  large  pieces 
of  bone. 

A  coffer  of  the  same  school  and  date,  not  much  less  in  size  and 
•of  much  higher  quality  and  workmanship,  is  in  private  possession 
at  Leamington,  in  Warwickshire.  The  sides  are  filled  with  small 
.statuettes  admirably  executed,  and  perhaps  giving  the  history  of 
3ome  poem  or  romance.  This  is,  probably,  the  best  example  of 
Italian  marriage  coffers  in  this  country. 

M.  Lenormant  also  refers,  as  of  the  same  school,  to  the  mag- 
nificent Retable  de  Poissy,  in  the  museum  of  the  Louvre,  of  which 
•Sir  D.  Wyatt  has  given  the  following  description  :  "  It  was  made 
for  Jean  de  Berry  brother  of  Charles  V.  and  for  his  second  wife^ 
Jeanne,  countess  of  Auvergne.  They  are  represented  on  it 
kneeling,  and  accompanied  by  their  patron  saints.     It  is  no  less 

F 


66 


IVORIES. 


than  seven  feet  six  inches  wide,  and  is  one  mass  of  carving.  It 
consists  of  three  arcades,  surmounted  by  canopies,  and  supported 
by  angle  pilasters  and  a  base.  The  subjects  are  taken  from  the 
New  Testament  and  from  the  legends  of  the  saints.    It  is  believed 


[there  can,  rather,  be  no  doubt]  that  it  is  of  Italian  workmanship, 
the  little  figures  having  much  Giottesque  character  in  their  treat- 
ment." This  famous  retable  is,  like  the  marriage  caskets,  carved 
in  bone. 

There  is  no  finer  specimen  of  this  style  and  work  than  the 


IVORIES.  67 

beautiful  predella,  formerly  in  the  Gigli-Campana  collection,  now 
at  South  Kensington,  no.  76 11.  It  is,  unfortunately,  not  perfect ; 
the  centre  panel  is  a  later  addition  and  the  original  piece  has  been 
lost.  It  is  possible  that  there  were  at  one  time  also  other  smaller 
panels.  The  woodcut  shows  well  the  general  style  of  these  carvings 
in  bone. 

The  French  and  English  caskets  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries  were  frequently  ornamented,  like  the  mirror  cases,  the 
combs,  and  the  writing-tablets,  with  domestic  scenes.  We  have 
ladies  and  gentlemen  sometimes  represented  playing  at  chess  or 
draughts  or  similar  games  ;  sometimes  riding,  or  hawking,  or 
hunting ;  sometimes  in  gardens  with  birds  and  dogs  ;  sometimes 
dancing.  Subjects  of  this  character  are  of  great  importance  and 
interest,  no  less  valuable  than  illuminations  in  manuscripts,  as 
showing  the  dress  and  the  armour  and,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  day. 

One  other  class  of  subjects  may  be  noticed  which  supplied  the 
decorations  of  caskets  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  which  is  found 
occasionally  on  panels  of  cabinets  or  the  larger  kind  of  household 
furniture ;  namely,  morris  dancers  and  women  playing  on  musical 
instruments.  Generally,  carvings  of  this  description  are  found 
upon  bone  :  two  examples  are  in  the  South  Kensington  museum, 
no.  4660  and  no.  6747.  There  was  also  one  in  the  Meyrick  collec- 
tion, of  which  a  woodcut  is  given  on  the  next  page. 

Domestic  subjects  are  of  more  common  occurrence  upon  combs 
and  mirror  cases  than  on  caskets ;  and,  upon  the  former,  scenes 
also  from  early  legends ;  occasionally,  some  circumstance  from 
Scripture.  Of  Scripture  subjects  the  message  from  David  to  Bath- 
sheba  is  the  most  frequent ;  probably,  because  Bathsheba  is  repre- 
sented generally  in  her  bath.  There  are  two  examples  in  the  South 
Kensington  museum  alone:  no.  2143  ^.nd  no.  468.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  understand  why  scenes  from  the  old  story  of  the 
fountain  of  Youth  should  have  been  a  favourite  subject. 

It  may  be  observed  that  the  garden  scenes  on  ivory  combs 


68 


IVORIES. 


remind  us  often  of  the  beautiful  painting  of  the  "  Dream  of  hfe  " 
by  Orcagna,  in  the  Campo  santo,  at  Pisa. 

Combs  of  ivory  and  bone  are  frequently  found  in  tombs  of  the 
Roman  and  Anglo-saxon  period  in  England  ;  and  before  that  time 
in  British  graves.    They  are  often  tinged  and  coloured  green,  from 


lying  in  contact  with  metal  objects,  A  very  curious  one,  in  the 
shape  of  a  hand,  was  mixed  with  the  remains  buried  in  a  Pict's 
house  in  the  north  of  Scotland ;  a  double  tooth-comb  was  found 
on  the  site  of  the  Roman  station  at  Chesterford,  in  Essex ;  and 
(to  name  no  more  of  this  kind,  for  the  specimens  are  veiy  many) 
an  ivory  comb  was  among  the  relics  in  the  tomb  said  to  be  of  St. 


IVORIES.  69 

Cuthbert,  at  Durham,  Mr.  Raine  also  prints  an  inventory  (dated 
1383)  of  relics  at  Durham,  among  which  are  the  comb  of  Malachias 
the  archbishop,  the  comb  of  St.  Boysil  the  priest,  and  the  ivory 
comb  of  St.  Dunstan.  Somewhat  later  than  this  date  is  an  entry 
in  the  register  of  the  cathedral  of  Glasgow,  where  a  precious  burse 
is  mentioned  with  the  combs  of  St.  Kentigern  and  St.  Thomas  of 
Canterbury. 

A  very  curious  comb,  but  much  mutilated,  is  preserved  in  the 
library  of  the  Society  of  antiquaries.  It  was  exhibited  in  1764 
and  engraved  in  the  8th  vol.  of  the  Archaeologia.  The  statement 
is  that  it  was  found  deeply  buried  under  a  street  in  Aberdeen,  and 
supposed  to  have  been  lost  there  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.  who 
burnt  the  city.  But  the  type  of  the  ornaments  upon  it  is  of  an 
earlier  character  than  that  date. 

The  comb  given  by  queen  Theodolinda  at  the  end  of  the  sixth 
century  to  the  church  of  Monza  is  still  kept. 

This  last  would  be  a  ceremonial  comb,  used  formerly  by  a 
bishop  before  celebrating  high  mass  or  before  other  great  functions, 
and  included  among  the  vestments  and  ceremonial  ornaments  of 
a  bishop  of  England  down  to  the  reign  of  Edward  the  sixth. 
"  Tobalia  et  pecten  ad  pectinandum  "  were  ordered  to  be  provided 
for  the  consecration  of  a  bishop  elect,  in  the  Sarum  pontifical. 
One  of  the  earliest  of  these  combs  now  known  to  exist  is  in  the 
treasury  of  the  cathedral  of  Sens,  and  said  to  be  of  the  sixth 
century.  Another,  English  and  of  the  eleventh  century,  is  in  the 
British  museum.  It  is  carved  in  open  work  with  men  and  inter- 
lacing scroll  ornament.  Unhappily,  it  is  not  perfect.  A  wood- 
cut is  given  on  the  next  page  of  this  very  important  ivory. 

Another,  richly  carved  with  subjects  from  the  gospels,  is  said 
to  be  preserved  at  Hardwick  court,  in  Gloucestershire.  Such 
ceremonial  combs  are  often  mentioned  in  church  inventories  and 
other  ecclesiastical  documents  of  the  middle  ages.  Seven  or  eight 
are  specified  as  belonging  to  St.  Paul's  cathedral  in  the  year  1222  : 
three  large,  three  small ;  one  "pecten  pulchrum  "  the  gift  of  John  de 


70 


IVORIES. 


Chishulle ;  and  three  others ;  all  of  ivory.    There  were  as  many  in 
the  treasury  of  the  cathedral  of  Canterbury,  in  13 15. 

When  the  supposed  tomb  of  St.  Cuthbert  was  opened  in  1827 


it  has  been  already  said  that  there  was  found,  among  other  relics 
deposited  with  the  body  of  the  saint,  an  ivory  comb.  This  comb 
has  a  double  row  of  teeth,  divided  by  a  broad  plain  band  perforated 
in  the  middle  with  a  round  hole  for  the  finger.    In  size  it  measures 


IVORIES. 


71 


six  inches  and  a  quarter  by  five  inches.  The  historian  of  the  pro- 
ceedings on  that  occasion  says  that  the  comb  is  probably  of  the 
eleventh  century,  but  he  gives  no  reason  ;  and  if  the  grave  were 
really  the  grave  of  St.  Cuthbert  it  is  almost  certain  that  the  comb 
was  his  and  used  by  him,  ceremonially,  as  bishop. 

The  examples  in  the  South  Kensington   collection   were  all 
made  for  private  use,  and  the  woodcut  represents  an  Italian  speci- 
2144.      English  family  inventories  from  the  fourteenth 


men^  no 


to  the  sixteenth  century,  occasionally  include  combs  of  that  kind. 
To  name  one  only :  the  list  of  the  effects  of  Roger  de  Mortimer 
at  Wigmore  castle,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  second,  specifies 
"  j  pecten  de  ebore." 

One  half  only  of  the  mirror  cases,  speaking  generally,  has  been 
preserved.  It  is  very  rare  to  find  both  covers.  Originally,  the 
mirror  was  fastened  to  one  side,  and  the  other  slid  over  it  or  was 
unscrewed.  No  example  of  both  parts  is  in  the  South  Kensington 
collection,  and  only  one  (it  is  believed)  in  the  British  museum. 
People,  as  time  went  on,  probably  thought  that  an  unornamented 
side  was  not  worth  taking  care  of 

We  find  the  subjects  sculptured  on  mirror  cases  to  be  almost 
always  scenes  from  domestic  life,  or  from  some  poem  or  romance. 
Naturally  it  would  be  so.     The  only  exceptions  among  all  the 


72  IVORIES. 

examples  at  South  Kensington  are  two,  on  one  of  which  is  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  Ahiiighty  Father  and  the  dead  Christ,  on  the  other 
the  message  of  David  to  Bathsheba.  The  rest,  ten  or  twelve  in 
number,  have  hunting  and  garden  scenes,  or  players  at  chess,  or 
assaults  on  the  castle  of  Love.  So  it  is  also  with  the  large  collection 
of  ivory  mirror  cases  in  the  British  museum. 

The  use  of  small  mirrors  is  to  be  traced  to  the  earliest  historic 
period,  and  to  be  found  among  almost  every  people  of  the  world. 
In  the  most  ancient  times  they  were  commonly  of  metal ;  and  it  is 
believed  that  none,  except  of  that  material,  has  yet  been  found  in 
any  tomb  of  Egypt,  or  Greece,  or  Italy.  These,  unlike  the  medi- 
geval  mirror,  had  generally  flat  and  broad  handles,  and  the  backs 
were  often  incised  with  various  designs,  mythological  subjects, 
gods  and  goddesses,  or  from  stories  of  the  poets. 

Many  metallic  mirrors  have' been  found  in  Roman  burial-places 
in  England.  Several  are  described  in  modern  archaeological  pub- 
lications ;  one  especially  curious,  found  in  1823  at  Coddenham 
in  Suffolk.  This  is  important  as  an  early  example  in  respect  of 
the  smallness  of  its  size  and  because  it  is  enclosed  in  a  case.  It 
"  is  a  portable  trinket,  consisting  of  a  thin  circular  bronze  case, 
divided  horizontally  into  two  nearly  equal  portions,  which  fit  one 
into  the  other ;  and,  being  opened,  it  presents  a  convex  mirror 
in  each  face  of  the  interior."  The  diameter  is  scarcely  more 
than  two  inches,  and  on  one  side  is  the  head  of  the  emperor 
Nero. 

Anglo-saxon  mirrors  have  seldom  been  found.  Two,  both 
discovered  in  a  barrow  near  Sandwich,  are  engraved  in  the  Nenia 
Britannica.  Mirrors  were  nevertheless  commonly  used  by  ladies 
at  that  time  ;  and  there  is  a  letter  preserved  in  Bede  from  pope 
Boniface  IV.  to  Ethelberga,  queen  of  Edwin  of  Northumbria  in 
625,  wherein  he  requests  her  acceptance  of  an  ivory  comb  and  a 
silver  mirror.  Combs  and  mirrors  are  frequent  on  the  sculptured 
stones  of  Scotland  ;  they  occur  on  more  than  fifty,  according  to 
a  table  given  in  the  preface  to  the  admirable  work  published  by 


IVORIES.  73 

the  Spalding   club ;    and  seven   stones  have  representations    of 
mirror  cases. 

Dr.  Stuart  in  a  short  paper  upon  these  sculptures,  read  before 
the  International  congress  of  pre-historic  arch^olog}'  in  1868, 
assigns  to  them  a  date  not  later  than  the  seventh,  eighth,  or  ninth 
century,  and  believes  that  the  figures  on  the  rude  pillars  may  be 
of  even  an  earlier  date,  before  Christian  times. 

It  is  not  known  when  glass  covered  at  the  back  with  lead  was 
introduced  in  place  of  the  earlier  metallic  mirror.  Probably 
some  of  the  cases  which  are  in  various  collections  were  the  covers 
of  the  new  material.  John  Peckham,  an  Englishman,  wrote  in 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  a  treatise  on  optics  in  which 
he  speaks  not  only  of  steel  mirrors  but  often  of  glass  mirrors,  and 
adds  that  when  the  lead  was  scraped  off  the  back  no  image  was 
reflected. 

There  is,  or  perhaps  was  1 50  years  ago,  a  curious  coat  of  arms 
in  a  painted  window  of  the  fourteenth  century,  in  the  chancel  of 
the  church  of  Thame  in  Oxfordshire,  on  which  was  blazoned  a 
mirror  in  a  case  with  a  handle  attached  to  it.  "  He  beareth 
argent,"  says  Guillim  in  his  Display  of  heraldry,  "  a  tyger  passant, 
regardant,  gazing  in  a  mirror  or  looking-glass,  all  p'oJ>er  .  . 
Some  report,  that  those  who  rob  the  tiger  of  her  young,  use  a 
policy  to  detain  their  dam  from  following  them,  by  casting  sundry 
looking-glasses  in  the  way,  whereat  she  useth  long  to  gaze,  etc." 

Ladies  using  mirrors  at  their  toilet  frequently  form  a  subject 
for  illustration  in  fourteenth  century  manuscripts.  These  mirrors 
are  precisely  of  the  usual  shape  and  size  of  those  which  have  come 
down  to  us  in  ivory.  Several  may  be  seen  in  the  manuscript 
romance  of  Lancelot  du  Lac  in  the  British  museum  :  in  one,  a 
lady  lying  on  a  couch  holds  the  mirror  in  her  hand  whilst  an 
attendant  dresses  her  hair  with  a  comb  ;  in  another,  she  herself 
uses  both  mirror  and  comb.  A  hundred  years  later  the  same 
design  was  engraved  on  one  of  a  pack  of  cards,  "  la  damoiselle^'  by 
"  the  Master  of  1466,"  now  in  the  national  library  at  Paris. 


74 


IVORIES. 


The  siege  of  the  castle  of  Love  is  a  subject  to  be  found 
repeated  on  several  existing  mirror  cases.  The  woodcut  is  copied 
from  a  very  beautiful  example  at  South  Kensington,  no.  1617. 
Another  copy  of  the  same  romance  of  Lancelot,  which  has  been 
just  referred  to,  has  an  illumination  of  a  real  assault  upon  a  castle, 
treated  in  a  similar  manner.  Knights  place  ladders  against  the 
wall  j  the  battlements  are  defended  by  the  garrison ;  the  attack  is 


made  with  cross-bows  and  a  catapult ;  and  men  lie  dead  upon  the 
ground.  Another  of  much  interest  is  given  as  "  the  twelfth 
battle  "  in  the  manuscript  in  the  British  museum  so  well  known 
as  queen  Mary's  psalter,  written  about  the  year  1320  ;  in  this, 
women  look  at  the  attack  over  the  battlements  of  the  town  or 
castle. 

Knights  tilting,  or  a  tournament,  or  ladies  and  gentlemen 
Tiding  through  \voods  and  preceded  by  attendants  with  dogs,  are 
also  common  subjects.  The  contemporary  manuscripts  illustrate 
the  same  design.     Both  on  the  mirror  cases  and  in  the  illumina- 


IVORIES. 


75 


tions  the  lady  is  generally  seen  riding  astride.     Women  are  so 
represented   more  than  once  in  the  romance  of  Lancelot :   for 


example /t"/.  120^;,  and  163^'.  A  queen  is  riding, /t;/.  i8i<^.  In 
queen  Mary's  psalter,  the  treatment  on  the  mirror  cases  of  people 
riding  is  almost  exactly  repeated,  _7tV.  217  ;  again,  2i8(^,  and  2231^. 


76  IVORIES. 

Other  examples  may  be  seen  in  the  Bodleian  manuscript  of  the 
romance  of  Alexander,  fol.  loo  and  130.  The  same  custom 
lasted  in  Lithuania  until,  at  least,  the  year  1800. 

There  is  one  other  ornamental  design  very  common  on  mirror 
cases ;  people  playing  at  chess  or  draughts.  Margaret  Paston  writes 
in  the  reign  of  Richard  the  third  to  her  husband,  and  says 
that  at  the  Christmas  following  the  death  of  lord  Morley  his 
widow  would  permit  no  amusements  in  her  house,  "non  dysgysyngs 
ner  harpyng  ner  lutyng — but  pleying  at  the  tabyllys  and  schesse." 
This  brings  us  to  an  interesting  and  important  class  of  carvings 
in  ivory. 

The  date  of  the  introduction  of  the  games  of  chess  and 
draughts  into  Europe,  and  more  particularly  among  the  northern 
nations  and  our  own  ancestors  the  Anglo-saxons,  is  a  historical 
question  upon  which  there  has  been  great  dispute.  The  game  of 
chess  was  certainly  played  at  a  very  early  period  in  the  east,  and 
from  thence  probably  passed  through  the  Arabs  into  Greece. 
There  are  allusions  to  chess  and  chessmen  in  many  writers  before 
the  twelfth  century,  and  these  incidental  references  are  of  more 
value  than  the  positive  assertions  which  later  authors,  after  the 
manner  of  their  day,  did  not  hesitate  to  advance. 

For  example  Caxton,  or  rather  the  author  of  the  "  Playe  ot 
the  Chesse."  "This  playe  fonde  a  phylosopher  of  thoryent 
whych  was  named  in  caldee  Exerces,  for  which  is  as  moche  to  say 
in  englissh  as  he  that  louyth  Justyce  and  mesure."  'And  this 
decision  was  not  without  due  consideration  of  the  matter;  for 
just  before  we  are  told  :  "  Trewe  it  is  that  somme  men  wene  that 
this  play  was  founden  in  the  tyme  of  the  bataylles  and  siege  of 
troye.  But  that  is  not  so.  .  .  .  After  that  cam  this  playe  in  the 
tyme  of  Alixaunder  the  grete  in  to  egypt,  and  so  unto  alle  the 
parties  toward  the  south." 

This  treatise  on  chess  is  said  to  have  been  written  nearly  two 
hundred  years  before  Caxton  lived  by  Jacobus  de  Casulis,  a 
French  Dominican  friar,  about  1290.     A  copy  is  in  the  British 


IVORIES.  77 

museum,    MS.    Harl.    1275  ;    and   it   was   printed   at   Milan   in 
1479. 

Chaucer  however,  in  "the  Dreame,"  names  not  Exerces  but 
Athalus  as  the  supposed  inventor  of  the  game,  in  a  passage 
worth  quoting : 

* '  Therewith  Fortune  saith,  check  here, 
And  mate  in  the  mid  point  of  the  checkere, 
With  a  pawne  errant,  alas, 
Ful  craftier  to  playe  she  was 
Than  Athalus  that  made  the  game, 
First  to  the  chesse,  so  was  his  name." 

We  may,  however,  put  aside  the  old  guesses  of  early  writers, 
for  evidence  still  exists  which  sets  at  rest  all  doubt  that  chess  was 
known  and  played  in  France  in  Carlovingian  times,  and  we  can 
understand  easily,  therefore,  why  mediaeval  poets  and  romance 
writers  so  often  introduced  stories  about  the  game.  Some  ivory 
chessmen,  six  in  number,  were  long  preserved  in  the  treasury  of 
the  abbey  of  St.  Denis,  and  the  old  tradition  was  that  they  were 
given  with  the  chess-table  by  Charlemagne  himself.  The  greater 
number  of  the  pieces  and  the  table  had  been  lost  for  many  years, 
as  long  ago  as  1600.  The  remainder,  transferred  at  the  revolution 
from  St.  Denis,  are  now  in  the  public  library  at  Paris.  Sir 
Frederic  Madden,  in  a  very  able  and  learned  paper  in  the 
Archaeologia,  says  of  them  :  "  The  dresses  and  ornaments  are  all 
strictly  in  keeping  with  the  Greek  costutne  of  the  ninth  century ; 
and  it  is  impossible  not  to  be  convinced,  from  the  general 
character  of  the  figures,  that  these  chessmen  really  belong  to  the 
period  assigned  them  by  tradition,  and  were,  in  all  probability, 
executed  at  Constantinople  by  an  Asiatic  Greek,  and  sent  as  a 
present  to  Charlemagne,  either  by  the  empress  Irene,  or  by  her 

successor  Nicephorus One   thing   is   certain,   that   these 

chessmen,  from  their  size  and  workmanship,  must  have  been 
designed  for  no  ignoble  personage  :  and,  from  the  decided  style 
of  Greek  art,  it  is  a  more  natural  inference  to  suppose  them  pre- 


78  IVORIES. 

sented  to  Charlemagne  by  a  sovereign  of  the  lower  empire,  than 
that  they  came  to  him  as  an  offering  from  the  Moorish  princes  of 
Spain,  or  even  from  the  caliph  Haroun  al  Raschid,  who  gave 
many  costly  gifts  to  the  emperor  of  the  west." 

In  the  East  India  museum  almost  a  complete  set  of  ivory 
chessmen  is  preserved,  perhaps  the  most  ancient  examples  now 
known  to  exist :  older  even  than  the  chessmen  from  St.  Denis. 
These  were  found  about  twenty  years  ago,  mixed  with  a  quantity 
of  broken  pottery,  human  bones,  and  other  relics,  amongst  the 
ruins  of  some  houses  excavated  on  the  site  of  the  city  of  Brah- 
munabad  in  Sind,  which  was  destroyed  by  an  earthquake  in  the 
eighth  century.  The  pieces  are  turned  ;  plain  in  character,  with- 
out ornament.  Several  are  in  a  very  fragile  state,  having  perished 
in  the  same  way  as  the  Assyrian  ivories ;  and  an  attempt  should 
be  made  to  restore,  if  possible,  some  of  the  lost  substance.  A 
few  fragments  of  a  chessboard  were  also  found,  incised  with 
small  circles,  not  interlacing.  The  chessmen  and  the  squares  of 
the  board  are  black  and  white  :  ivory  and  ebony.  The  kings  and 
queens  are  about  three  inches  high  ;  the  pawns  one  inch ;  and  the 
other  pieces  are  of  different  intermediate  heights.  Coins  were 
also  found  of  the  caliphs  of  Bagdad,  about  a.d.  750. 

The  mediaeval  chronicles,  poems,  and  romances  are  full  of 
references  to  the  game.  The  anonymous  author  of  the  history  of 
Ramsey  monastery,  writing  about  the  year  11 00,  tells  us  that 
bishop  Athene  coming  late  one  night  to  king  Canute  found  him 
still  playing  chess,  "  regem  adhuc  scaccorum  ludo  longioris  tsedia 
noctis  relevantem  invenit."  Strutt  quotes  this  passage  in  his 
sports  and  pastimes ;  and  Sir  F.  Madden  adds  the  following 
translation  from  a  French  manuscript  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
It  is  much  to  our  present  purpose,  in  illustration  of  the  legends 
whence  the  subjects  of  mirror  decorations  were  derived  : — 

"  Orgar  was  playing  at  the  chess, 
A  game  he  had  learned  of  the  Danes  ; 
With  him  played  the  fair  Elstruetli, 
A  fairer  maiden  was  not  under  heaven." 


IVORIES.  79 

The  story  is  of  a  mission  from  king  Edgar  to  earl  Orgar  in  the 
tenth  century. 

Chaucer  again  tells  us  how 

"They  danceu  and  they  play  at  ches  and  tables ;" 

and  in  the  merchant's  second  tale  he  describes  a  chessboard  : — 

' '  So  when  they  had  ydyned,  the  cloth  was  up  y take, 
A  ches  ther  was  ybrought  forth  ;     .     .     .     . 
The  ches  was  all  of  ivory,  the  meyne  fresh  and  new, 
Ipulshid  and  ypikid,  of  white,  asure,  and  blue." 

A  very  curious  passage  occurs  in  a  book  originally  written  in 
French,  in  April  137 1,  and  translated  about  the  reign  of 
Henry  the  sixth  :  a  copy  is  in  the  British  museum;  Harl.  1764. 
'•'  There  was  a  gentille  knight's  daughter  that  wratthed  atte  the 
tables  with  a  gentill  man  that  was  riotous  and  comberous  and 
hadd  an  evelle  hede,  and  the  debate  was  on  a  point  that  he  plaide, 
that  she  saide  that  it  was  wronge  :  and  so  the  wordes  and  the 
debate  rose  so  that  she  saide  that  he  was  a  lewde  [ignorant]  fole, 
and  thane  lost  the  game  in  chiding." 

Chess-tables  and  chessmen  are  often  specified  in  wills  and  in- 
ventories. The  inventory  of  the  effects  of  Sir  Roger  de  Mortimer, 
referred  to  more  than  once,  speaks  of  a  coffer  containing  "  j  famil' 
de  ebore  pro  scaccario ;"  and  among  the  jewels  in  the  wardrobe 
book  of  Edward  the  first  occur  "  una  familia  de  ebore  pro  ludendo 
ad  scaccarium,"  and  "  una  familia  pro  scaccario  de  jaspide  et 
cristallo."  The  "  familia "  in  these  entries  is  the  same  as  the 
*'  meyne  "  in  Chaucer's  lines  just  above  ;  that  is,  the  retinue,  the 
company,  or  the  set  of  domestics. 

To  quote  from  one  will ;    Sir  William  Compton  in  his  will 
dated  1523  bequeathed  to  Henry  the  eighth  ''a  little  chest  of 
ivory  whereof  one  lock  is  gilt,  with  a  chessboard  under  the  same, 
and  a  pair  of  tables  upon  it,  and  all  such  jewels  and  treasures  as 
are  enclosed  therein." 


8o 


IVORIES. 


The  most  complete  set  of  ancient  ivory  chessmen  now  re- 
maining was  found  in  the  isle  of  Lewis,  in  Scotland,  about  the 
year  1831,  and  most  of  them  are  now  in  the  British  museum. 
They  are  all  of  one  character,  similar  to  the  accompanying  wood- 
cut, which  is  engraved  from  another  walrus-ivory  chessman,  also  in 

the  British  museum,  and 
which  was  obtained  some 
few  years  ago  from  a  pri- 
vate collection. 

It  would  be  more  pro- 
per to  speak  of  the  Lewis 
chess  pieces  as  several  sets, 
for  there  are  some  pieces 
enough  for  five  or  six. 
They  are  sixty-seven  in 
number  —  six  kings,  five 
queens,  thirteen  bishops, 
fourteen  knights,  nineteen 
pawns,  and  ten  (so-called) 
warders,  which  took  the 
place  of  the  modern  rook 
or  castle.  This  large  col- 
lection was  discovered  by 
a  labourer  digging  a  sand- 
bank, and  every  piece  is 
accurately  described  in  detail  by  Sir  F.  Madden  in  a  paper 
read  before  the  Society  of  antiquaries  in  1832.  They  are  all 
carved  out  of  walrus  ivory. 

Upon  this  material  Sir  Frederic  observes  that  "  the  estimation 
in  which  the  teeth  of  the  walrus  were  held  by  the  northern  nations 
rendered  them  a  present  worthy  of  royalty ;  and  this  circumstance 
is  confirmed  by  a  tradition  preserved  in  the  curious  saga  of  Kroka 
the  crafty,  who  lived  in  the  tenth  century."  [The  saga  itself  is 
believed  to  have  been  written  in  the  fourteenth  century.]     ''  It  is 


IVORIES. 


8r 


there  related,  that  Gunner,  prefect  of  Greenland,  wishing  to  con- 
ciliate the  favour  of  Harald  Hardraad,  king  of  Norway  (a.d.  1050), 
sent  him  the  three  most  precious  gifts  the  island  could  produce. 
These  were,  i,  a  white  bear;  2,  a  chess-table,  or  set  of  chessmen, 
exquisitely  carved  ;  3,  a  skull  of  the  Rostungr  (or  walrus)  with 
the  teeth  fastened  in  it,  and  ornamented  with  gold."  The  best 
Icelandic  scholars  take 
the  term  Taft-Tabl  in 
the  sense  of  chessmen 
made  of  the  teeth  of  the 
walrus. 

Chessmen  were  oc- 
casionally made  of  con- 
siderably larger  size. 
There  is  a  good  ex- 
ample of  this  kind  in 
the  South  Kensington 
collection,  no.  8987  ; 
and  another,  of  which 
a  woodcut  is  given,  is 
in  the  British  museum. 
This  last  remarkable 
piece  was  presented  in 
1 856, by  Sir  Henry  Cole. 

Scarcely  less  com- 
mon than  chessmen  are  small  round  pieces,  generally  of  the 
tusk  of  the  walrus,  which  were  used  for  a  game  probably  like 
the  modern  game  of  draughts,  and  to  which  frequent  allusion 
is  found  in  mediaeval  books  under  the  name  of  "tables." 
The  mirror  cases  give  us  several  representations  of  people 
engaged  at  this  game,  usually  a  lady  and  a  gentleman.  There 
seem  to  have  been  fewer  pieces  used  than  in  our  own  days,  and  a 
smaller  board  or  table.  These  draughtsmen  are  almost  all  of  the 
eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries ;  and  the  subjects  men 


82  IVORIES. 

and  animals,  with  scroll  ornament  interlacing.  Occasionally  a 
single  bird  or  a  dragon  fills  the  centre  space. 

Some  of  the  decorations  of  the  old  church  of  Shobdon  in 
Herefordshire  (pulled  down  about  loo  years  ago)  were  similar  to 
the  carvings  upon  the  draughtsmen  and  other  works  of  that  kind. 
These  also  were  of  the  twelfth  century.  One  pillar  was  orna- 
mented with  a  series  of  small  medallions  tied  together,  exactly 
like  the  old  draughtsmen.  They  are  engraved,  from  fragments  of 
three  of  the  principal  arches  still  preserved,  in  the  first  volume  of 
the  Archaeological  journal. 

This  style  of  ornament  is  sho^vn  to  great  advantage  upon 
the  arm  of  a  chair  of  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  century,  formerly  in 
the  Meyrick  collection;  carved  from  two  tusks  of  the  walrus.  It 
is  not  easy  to  decide  in  what  country  this  very  important  ivory 
was  worked.     One  half  of  it  is  given  in  the  accompanying  wood- 


cut. The  name,  arm  of  a  chair,  must  be  taken  as  a  probable 
supposition.  That  it  is  one  of  a  pair  is  apparently  certain :  for 
in  the  centre  on  one  side  is  an  eagle,  on  the  other  a  winged  lion ; 
two  of  the  four  symbols  of  the  Evangelists.  These  are  deeply 
sunk  and  enclosed  in  ornamental  borders,  exactly  similar  to  the 
draughtsmen  of  the  same  period.  The  sides  from  the  centres  to 
the  ends  are  richly  carved  in  admirable  style  and  workmanship 
with  an  interlacing  scroll  ornament,  in  the  midst  of  which  are 
twined  men  and  fabulous  animals.  The  ends  have,  for  termina- 
tions, the  heads  of  lions  designed  with  much  spirit.  On  the 
under  side,  which  is  left  perfectly  flat,  are  incised  some  small 
crosses,  composed  of  the  well-known  little  circles  called  the 
bone  ornament.     There  are  other  good  examples   of  the  same 


IVORIES. 


83 


style  of  decoration  upon  the  specimens  of  the  ancient  Tau  in  the 
South  Kensington  museum.  In  all  of  these,  though  the  men  and 
animals  are  grotesque  yet  they  have  life  and  movement,  and  the 
foliage  and  branches  with  which  they  are  twined  and  intermingled 
are  well  executed.  The  technical  merit  of  the  carving,  deep  in 
relief  and  often  cut  clear  from  the  solid  substance  of  the  ivory,  is 
very  remarkable. 


TWO   GROUPS   OF   THE    CHESSMEN    FOUND    IN    THE    ISLAND   OF   LEWIS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Although  it  is  impossible  to  enter  in  detail  into  any  history  of 
an  object  so  well  known,  by  name  at  least,  as  the  pastoral  crook 
of  a  bishop,  it  may  yet  be  not  without  interest  to  offer  a  few 
remarks  upon  it  in  explanation  of  the  varieties  of  shape  of  old 
ivory  croziers  still  existing,  and  as  a  subject  not  without  interest 
in  our  own  days  to  many  people.  The  Tau,  spoken  of  in  the  last 
chapter,  is  but  a  form  of  the  pastoral  staff,  adopted  in  more  than 
one  country  of  western  Europe  early  in  the  middle  ages. 

The  most  ancient  shape  of  the  episcopal  staff  is  found  repre- 
sented in  the  catacombs  ;  a  short  handle,  with  a  plain  boss  or 
oval  knob  bent  aside  at  the  top  like  the  pagan  lituns.  Sometimes 
in  the  catacombs  we  also  find  the  truer  form  of  a  shepherd's 
crook,  a  plain  but  complete  curve  at  the  extremity.  The  Tau  is 
commonly  seen  and  given  without  apparent  distinction  to  bishops 
and  abbots  in  manuscripts  of  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries, 
about  which  period  there  came  in  another  fashion,  unpleasing  and 
hardly  intelligible  in  its  design,  where  the  crook  is  but  slightly 
bent  and  extended  almost  horizontally  from  the  staff  itself  One 
more  shape,  and  more  rare,  was  a  double  plain  crook  like  horns 
joined  together.  After  all  these  came  the  admirable  design,  of 
which  the  South  Kensington  museum  possesses  one  or  two 
splendid  examples,  wherein  the  volute  is  carried  half  round  again 
and  frequently  contains  within  the  circle  other  ornaments  or 
groups  of  figures. 


IVORIES.  85 

The  extremities  of  the  Taus  were  often  hollowed  in  order  to 
receive  relics.  The  very  beautiful  Tau,  no.  215,  formerly  in  the 
collection  of  prince  Soltikoff,  shows  the  old  recesses ;  but  the 
ends,  which  perhaps  were  made  of  crystal,  are  lost.  It  is  of  this 
Tau  that  a  learned  author  writes  as  follows,  in  the  Me'langes 
arche'ologiques  : — "  Avant  de  quitter  ce  beau  monument,  je  ferai 
*'  observer  la  riche  ciselure  du  treillis  separant  les  signes.  II  est 
'*'  a  peine  croyable  que  chaque  petite  perle  d'ivoire  le  long  des 
"  entrelacs  enchasse  une  pierre  precieuse,  et  que  les  yeux  des 
"  animaux  sont  ainsi  formes."  A  very  fine  ivory  of  the  same  ad- 
mirable kind  and  style  is  preserved  in  the  library  at  Rouen,  probably 
■of  earlier  date,  of  the  tenth  century ;  and  another  is  in  the  Cluny 
museum,  unusually  simple  in  shape  and  plain  in  ornament,  which 
was  found  at  St.  Germain-des-Pre's  in  the  tomb  of  Morard,  abbot 
of  that  monastery  from  990  to  1014. 

Ivory  Taus  are  of  great  rarity.  They  were  gradually  super- 
seded towards  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  by  that  form  which, 
with  certain  varieties  of  ornament,  has  continued  down  to  our 
own  times.  The  most  common  mode  of  treating  the  volute  itself 
Tvas  to  imitate  a  serpent ;  and  the  termination  of  the  crook  was 
the  head  of  the  serpent,  sometimes  with  widely-expanded  jaws. 

It  may  appear  unreasonable  that  the  serpent  was  so  constantly 
used  as  a  religious  emblem  in  such  a  way ;  but  the  symbol  was 
certainly  adopted  in  Christian  art  and  with  several  pious  signifi- 
cations from  the  first  ages  of  the  Christian  faith.  As  the  chief 
decoration  of  a  bishop's  pastoral  staff  it  might  be  regarded  as  an 
emblem  of  prudence,  or  as  a  record  of  the  rod  of  Moses,  which 
was  changed  into  a  serpent  and  destroyed  those  which  had  been 
cast  down  by  the  magicians  ;  or  again,  as  an  emblem  of  the 
subtlety  or  wisdom  required  in  a  ruler  over  Christ's  flock.  When 
the  serpent  is  also  chained  or  entangled^  then,  perhaps,  the 
triumph  of  the  Church  over  Satan  is  symbolised  ;  or  the  contest 
itself  between  the  two,  when  the  head  and  open  jaws  seem  to  be 
on  the  point  of  closing  over  the  lamb  and  cross,  as  in  the  pastoral 


86  IVORIES. 

staff  of  the  Ashmolean  museum  at  Oxford.  Once  more,  the 
triumph  would  be  shown  when  our  Lord  in  glory  is  represented 
within  the  sweep  of  the  serpent's  body.  It  is  also  probable  that 
the  men  twisted  and  twined  with  serpents  and  animals  and 
branches  of  trees,  in  the  older  examples,  were  meant  to  typify  the 
struggle  against  the  evil  influences  of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil. 

The  triumph  of  Christianity  over  the  world  is  of  a  class  of 
ornament  which  was  largely  introduced  towards  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  and  which  included  others  of  a  like  character  : 
such  as,  especially,  the  Crucifixion  or  the  Virgin  standing  with 
the  Child  in  her  arms,  sometimes  attended  by  angels,  or  the 
adoration  of  the  Magi ;  and,  a  little  later,  the  coronation  of  the 
Virgin ;  or  the  destruction  of  the  dragon  by  the  archangel 
Michael. 

The  author  of  the  paper  in  the  Melanges  d'archeologie  speaks 
of  a  pastoral  staff  of  ivory  having  this  subject  so  early  as  the  time 
of  St.  Gautier,  first  abbot  of  St.  Martin  de  Pontoise  about  1070, 
to  whom  it  is  attributed.  An  engraving  of  it  is  in  that  publica- 
tion ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  especial  notice  because,  although  of 
wood,  the  handle  is  not  only  enriched  with  decorations  like  the 
handle  of  the  fan  at  South  Kensington,  no.  373  and  the  corre- 
sponding piece  in  the  British  museum,  but  the  ornaments  are 
placed  within  exactly  similar  small  square  compartments. 

Sometimes  the  volutes  of  croziers  were  filled  merely  with 
foliage  and  twisted  branches  ;  but  these  were  more  commonly  of 
copper  or  silver,  for  the  further  purpose  of  being  enamelled. 

We  must  not  fail  to  observe  how  cleverly  in  many  of  the 
mediaeval  ivory  heads  of  bishops'  staffs  the  volute  is  occupied  by 
a  double  subject,  placed  back  to  back,  so  that  one  of  the  two 
might  face  the  people  as  it  was  borne  along.  These  are  generally, 
on  one  side  the  Crucifixion,  on  the  other  the  Virgin  and  Child. 
The  figures  standing  upon  the  one  side  on  either  hand  of  the 
cross  are  carved  on  the  reverse  as  angels  in  attendance  on  the 


IVORIES. 


87 


Viro-in,     This  is  well  shown  in  the  woodcut,  from  a  pastoral  staff 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  preserved  in  the  cathedral  at  Metz. 


In  remote  times  the  pastoral  staff  of  a  bishop  was  usually  made 


88  IVORIES. 

of  wood  ;  at  least,   we  may  suppose   so  from   the  jest   of  Guy 
Coquille  : — 

"  Au  temps  passe  du  siecle  d'or, 
Crosse  de  bois,  eveque  d'or  ; 
Maintenant,  changeant  les  lois, 
Crosse  d'or,  eveque  de  bois." 

These  lines  are  not,  perhaps,  all  in  jest,  for  the  wooden  staff 
of  St.  Erhard  exists  at  Ratisbonne  :  and  another  is  in  the  church 
of  St.  Ursula  at  Cologne.  The  two  Benedictines  in  their  famous 
travels  (as  recorded  in  the  "  Voyage  litteraire  ")  come  to  Mauri- 
enne,  and  tell  us  :  "  Nous  vimes  aussi  dans  le  tresor  une  croce 
d'yvoire :  car  les  anciens  dveques  aimoient  mieux  employer  leur 
argent  a  soulager  les  pauvres,  qu'en  des  ornemens  vains  et 
superflus."  They  saw  other  ivory  pastoral  staffs  before  their 
journeys  ended:  one  at  Marseilles,  in  the  abbey  of  St.  Victor; 
and  one  of  the  eleventh  century  at  St.  Savin,  in  the  diocese  of 
Tarbes ;  another,  worthy  of  special  mention,  at  Cluny  :  "  La 
croce  de  S.  Hugue,  qui  est  de  bois  couvert  de  feuilles  d'argent, 
dont  le  dessus  est  d'yvoire." 

In  later  days  the  use  of  wood  was  generally  limited  to  the 
staffs  and  croziers  which  were  buried  in  their  graves  with  arch- 
bishops and  bishops,  abbots  and  abbesses.  A  few  of  these  have 
been  found :  one,  very  remarkable  and  in  a  fair  state  of  preserva- 
tion, in  Westminster  abbey  in  the  tomb  of  bishop  Lyndwood,  the 
great  canonist.  This  is  now  in  the  British  museum.  A  full 
account  of  the  opening  of  this  tomb,  with  engravings,  is  printed 
in  one  of  the  volumes  of  the  Archaeologia. 

Probably  the  pastoral  staff  mentioned  in  the  will  of  Richard 
Martyn  bishop  of  St.  David's,  who  died  about  the  year  1498, 
was  of  wood.  He  bequeathed  to  the  church  of  Lyde  "  the  cross- 
lied  that  Oliver  the  joiner  made." 

Inscriptions  are  sometimes  found  upon  ivory  pastoral  staffs. 
For  example  on  that  of  St.  Aunon,  archbishop  of  Cologne:  "Sterne 


IVORIES.  89 

resistentes,  stantes  rege,  tolle  jacentes  ;"  others  on  those  of  St. 
Saturnin  at  Toulouse,  and  of  Otho,  bishop  of  Hildesheim, 

The  old  Sarum  pontificals  order,  in  the  first  rubric  for  conse- 
crating a  bishop,  that  the  bacillus  pastoralis  should  be  provided  with 
the  other  necessary  episcopal  ornaments  and  vestments ;  and  the 
•  staff  is  delivered  to  the  new  bishop  in  the  course  of  the  office. 
"  Quum  datur  bacillus  dicat  ordinator,  Accipe  baculum  pastoralis 
officii,"  etc.,  and  the  purpose  is  further  alluded  to  as  the  ceremony 
proceeds. 

The  symbolism  of  the  shape  and  ornaments  of  the  ivory  pas- 
toral staffs  is  clearly  explained  by  Hugo  St.  Victor  :  "  Episcopo, 
dum  regimen  ecclesije  committitur,  baculus  quasi  pastori  traditur, 
in  quo  tria  notantur,  quje  significatione  non  carent,  recurvitas, 
virga,  cuspis  ;  significatio  hoc  carmine  continetur  : — 

"  Attraho  peccantes,  justos  rogo,  pungo  vagantes. 
Officio  triplici  servio  pontifici." 

It  remains  only  to  notice  that  the  Pope  uses  neither  pastoral 
staff  nor  crozier,  nor  is  it  delivered  to  him  at  his  consecration,  if 
at  his  election  he  be  only  a  simple  priest.  It  is  said,  however, 
that  he  should  carry  one  in  the  diocese  of  Treves  because  St. 
Peter  gave  his  own  to  the  first  bishop  of  that  place,  where  it  is 
preserved  as  a  famous  relic.  This  tradition  is  mentioned  by  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  :  "  Et  ideo  in  dioecesi  Treverensi  papa  baculum 
portat,  et  non  in  aliis." 

An  engraving  is  given  (p.  90)  of  the  head  of  a  pastoral  staff,  rather 
more  than  five  inches  in  height,  not  only  unusual  and  remarkable 
in  style  but  probably  of  English  work.  This  was  preserved  in 
the  Meyrick  collection  and  is  carved  from  bone.  The  outside  of 
the  upright  part  and  the  volute  are  decorated  with  pierced  work, 
now  slightly  mutilated.  Inside  the  volute,  which  terminates  with 
the  open  mouth  of  a  serpent,  is  a  man  in  a  grotesque  position,  his 
feet  within-  the  serpent's  jaws.  A  rich  interlaced  scroll  decorates 
both  sides  of  the  head  of  the  staff". 


9° 


IVORIES. 


It  is  perhaps  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  Tau  should  be,  as 
we  know  it  is,  amongst  the  most  rare  of  ornaments  or  utensils  in 
ivory  which  have  been  preserved.  The  early  and  total  disuse  of 
them  would  have  naturally  led  to  their  destruction  and  loss,  some- 


times wilful,  sometimes  accidental.  But  that  the  pastoral  staff 
(that  is,  the  head  of  it)  should  be  [of  almost  equal  rarity  is  less 
easily  to  be  explained.  Few  collections  possess  a  good  example ; 
still  fewer  more  than  one.  Nevertheless,  in  England  alotie  pastoral 
staffs  must  have  been  almost  without  number  at  the  beginning  of 


IVORIES.  91 

the  sixteenth  century;  and  although  many  were  probably  of 
metal,  silver  or  copper  enamelled  and  having  some  intrinsic 
value,  yet  an  equal  or  perhaps  greater  number  were  of  ivory. 
Not  merely  bishops  but  the  heads  of  religious  houses,  abbots 
and  abbesses,  carried  them  as  official  tokens  of  their  rank  and 
dignity.  We  find  frequent  mention  of  them  in  the  old  inventories. 
For  example,  at  St.  Paul's,  in  1295  ;  "  Item,  baculus  cum  cambuca 
eburnea,  continente  agnum."  "  Item,  baculus  de  peciis  eburneis, 
et  summitate  crystallina,"  etc.  "Cambuca"  is  a  word  often  used 
in  the  middle  ages  for  the  staff  itself;  derived,  perhaps,  from 
KdjjLTnw,  I  bend. 

Yet  numerous  as  they  must  once  have  been,  the  heads  of 
English  pastoral  staffs  are  now  among  the  rarest  of  ivory  carvings. 
It  is  true  that  no.  298  at  South  Kensington  can,  with  some  kind 
of  probability,  be  attributed  to  an  English  artist  and  may  have 
been  used  in  England ;  but  no  other  in  that  collection  can  be 
referred  to.  The  almost  complete  destruction  in  England  of  all 
ecclesiastical  ornaments — books,  vestments,  reliquaries,  and  the 
like — in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  will  account  for  the 
extreme  rarity  of  them  in  this  country.  But  it  is  very  difficult  to 
explain  the  reason  why  so  few  should  still  be  found  in  France,  or 
Germany,  or  Italy.  The  bishop's  pastoral  staff,  again,  has  not 
dropped  out  of  use  like  the  pax  or  the  flabellum. 

There  are  examples  of  the  pax  in  the  South  Kensington 
collection,  nos.  246  and  247.  It  was  used  in  the  middle  ages  at 
high  mass  and  sometimes  at  low  mass  also,  for  sending  the  kiss 
of  peace  from  the  celebrant,  first  to  the  deacon  and  subdeacon  or 
to  the  acolyte,  afterwards  to  the  people.  With  regard  to  the 
custom  in  England,  provincial  and  diocesan  statutes  repeat  again 
and  again  the  obligation  upon  parishes  to  provide  the  pax,  "  oscu- 
latorium  "  or  "  asser  ad  pacem,"  equally  with  the  proper  vestments 
or  books  or  other  furniture  of  the  altar.  The  rubrics  of  the  Saruni 
missal — the  use  most  largely  observed  in  England  before  the  reign 
of  queen  Elizabeth — direct  the  priest,  immediately  after  the  Agnus 


92  IVORIES. 

Dei,  to  kiss  the  outside  rim  of  the  chalice  in  which  was  the  Sacred 
Blood,  and  then  to  give  the  pax  to  the  deacon  who  delivered 
it  in  regular  order  to  the  ministers  and  choristers  in  the 
sanctuary. 

Everything  connected  with  the  correct  text  of  the  plays  of 
Shakespeare  is  of  the  highest  interest  to  every  Englishman ;  and 
will  serve,  it  is  hoped,  as  some  excuse  for  a  few  words  by  way  of 
remark  upon  a  passage  where  he  alludes  to  a  pax.  The  unfor- 
tunate Bardolph  came  to  an  untimely  end  on  account  of  it : 

"  Fortune  is  Bardolph's  foe,  and  fl■o^^^^s  on  him  : 
For  he  hath  stolen  a  pax  :  and  hang'd  must'a  be. 

Exeter  hath  given  the  doom  of  death, 

For  pax  of  little  price." 

Henry  V.,  ad  iii.,  sc,  5. 

Until  lately  the  editors  of  Shakspeare  printed/j-.r  on  the  emen- 
dation (so-called)  of  Theobald.  Johnson,  who  approved  the  new 
reading,  informs  us  in  his  note  upon  the  place  that  the  two  words 
"  signified  the  same  thing."  As  far  as  Bardolph  was  concerned  it 
mattered  not; 'he  had  "conveyed"  a  sacred  thing  and,  as  Holinshed 
tells  us,  the  king  would  not  move  on  till  the  thief  was  hanged. 

The  quartos  of  1600  and  1608  (and  also  the  three  folios)  read 
pax:  "he  hath  stolne  a  packs;"  "a  packs  of  pettie  price,"  in 
both  editions.  Shakspeare  very  well  knew  that  a  pax  exposed  or 
left  carelessly  on  an  altar  was  much  more  likely  to  be  stolen  than 
a  pyx,  which  would  be  taken  infinitely  greater  care  of  and  locked 
up  in  the  tabernacle.  Even  Dr.  Johnson  was  ignorant  upon  some 
subjects ;  and  the  way  in  which  editors  "  emend  "  their  authors  is 
something  marvellous.  When  Shakspeare  lived,  and  when  the 
quartos  were  printed,  people  had  not  forgotten  the  distinction 
between  the  pax  and  the  pyx ;  and  many  even  could  still  remem- 
ber when  that  now  mysterious  thing,  the  pax,  had  been  brought 
down  to  them  in  the  services  of  the  Church  from  the  altar. 

The  introduction  of  the  pax  instead  of  the  old  practice  of 
mutual  salutation  was  not  until  about  the  thirteenth  century.     The 


IVORIES.  93 

earliest  mention  in  England  occurs  in  a  council  held  at  York,  a.d. 
1250,  under  archbishop  Walter  Gray,  where  it  is  called  "  oscula- 
torium."  A  like  order  was  made  in  the  province  of  Canterbury, 
at  the  council  of  Merton,  1305,  directing  every  parish  to  provide 
"  tabulas  pacis  ad  osculatorium."  Several  figures  of  the  pax  are 
given  in  works  relating  to  the  subject;  and  we  find  it  almost 
always  represented  as  part  of  the  furniture  of  an  altar  in  the 
woodcut  which  often  precedes  the  service  for  advent  sunday,  in 
the  printed  editions  of  the  Salisbury  missal  from  about  1500  to 
1557.  Le  Brun  has  an  interesting  disquisition  on  the  pax:  and 
he  tells  us  in  a  note  that  in  its  turn  it  also  fell  into  disuse,  because 
of  quarrels  about  precedency  which  were  occasioned  among  the 
people.  Le  Brun  is  borne  out  by  Chaucer  who,  in  the  Parson's 
Tale,  speaking  of  the  proud  man  explains  that  "  also  he  awaited 
to  sit,  or  els  to  go  above  him  in  the  waie,  or  kisse  paxe,  or  be 
encenced  before  his  neighbour,  etc." 

Occasionally,  paxes  in  ivory  have  inscriptions  upon  them. 
One  of  the  three  in  the  LiverjDOol  museum  has  the  appropriate 
prayer,  "  Da  pacem  Domine  in  diebus  nostris."  Two  exhibited 
at  Norwich  in  1847  had  legends.  On  one,  the  Annunciation, 
"Ave  Maria;"  on  the  other,  the  Nativity  with  the  shepherds, 
"  Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo,  et  in  terra  pax,  etc." 

Notices  of  the  pax  are  common  in  monastic  and  church  in- 
ventories. In  the  Rites  of  Durham  abbey  we  are  told  that  they 
possessed  "  a  marvelous  faire  booke,  which  had  the  epistles  and 
gospels  in  it,  the  which  booke  had  on  the  outside  of  the  cover- 
inge  the  picture  of  our  Saviour  Christ  all  of  silver — which  booke 
did  serve  for  the  paxe  in  the  masse."  A  book  which  an  abbot  of 
Glastonbury  gave  to  his  church  there  probably  answered  the 
same  purpose;  and  other  then  existing  examples  might  be  referred 
to.  "  Unum  textum  argenteum  et  auratum  cum  crucifixo,  Maria, 
et  Johanne,  splendidus  emalatum."  A  mediseval  English  pax 
made  of  wood  does  not  now,  probably,  exist :  but  there  is  a 
curious  entry  in  the  inventory  of  church  goods  belonging  to  the 


94 


IVORIES. 


parish  of  St.  Peter  Cheap,  in  the  year  1431  ;  "item  iij  lyttel  pax- 
breds  of  tre."  Many  such  wooden  paxes  are  mentioned  as  having 
been  burnt  in  the  diocese  of  Lincohi  in  1566  by  the  royal  com- 
missioners :  "  a  paxe  of  wood "  at  Baston,  another  at  Dunsbie, 
another  at  Haconbie. 

We  have  a  remarkable  iUustration  of  the  late  use  of  the  pax 
in  England  in  one  of  the  injunctions  issued  by  the  king's  visitors 
to  the  clergy  within  the  deanery  of  Doncaster,  in  the  first  year  of 
Edward  the  sixth,  and  printed  by  Burnet  in  his  Records  :  "  The 
clerk  was  ordered  at  the  proper  time  to  bring  down  the  pax,  and 
standing  without  the  church  door  to  say  these  words  aloud  to  the 
people,  This  is  a  token  of  joyful  peace  which  is  betwixt  God  and 
men's  conscience,  etc'.'  The  "  church  door  "  here  means  the  door 
in  the  screen  which  in  those  days  divided  the  chancel  from  the 
body  of  the  church.  As  in  Chaucer,  where  he  says  of  the  wife 
of  Bath 

"  Husbands  at  the  church  door  had  she  had  five." 

In  England  before  the  change  of  religion  in  the  fifteenth 
century  the  marriage  ceremony  was  performed  outside  the 
chancel,  sometimes  at  the  great  door  of  the  church  itself;  and 
then  all  proceeded  towards  the  sanctuary  for  mass  and  com- 
niunion. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  rare  objects 
in  the  South  Kensington  collection  is  part  of  the  handle  of  an 
ecclesiastical  fan,  or  flabellum.  It  is,  probably,  one  half  of  a 
handle;  and  another  half,  so  nearly  alike  that  it  is  a  question 
whether  it  does  or  does  not  belong  to  the  same  handle,  is  in  the 
British  museum.  The  fan  is  still  used  in  the  Catholic  Church  in 
the  east,  where  the  purpose  and  benefit  of  it  in  order  to  keep 
off  flies  from  the  sacred  vessels,  or  on  account  of  the  heat,  are 
obvious.  But  in  the  west,  except  perhaps  for  part  of  the  year  in 
Italy,  the  fan  was  a  kind  of  fashion  and,  having  no  symbolism,  an 
unmeaning   introduction   from   the    oriental    rite.     The   various 


IVORIES.  95 

churches  of  France  and  England  had  dropped  the  use  of  it  before 
the  sixteenth  century ;  but  we  have  plenty  of  evidence  that  the 
fan  was  commonly  adopted  in  the  thirteenth  and  the  twelfth. 
Illuminations  in  two  of  the  manuscripts  in  the  public  library  at 
Rouen  are  very  clear  in  this  matter.  One  represents  the  deacon 
raising  the  flabellum,  a  circular  fan  with  a  long  handle,  over  the 
head  of  the  priest  standing  at  the  altar.  In  the  other,  the  deacon 
is  in  the  act  of  waving  the  fan,  holding  it  by  a  short  handle,  over 
the  head  of  a  bishop  who  is  elevating  the  Host. 

A  very  curious  flabellum,  supposed  to  be  of  the  ninth  century, 
is  described  by  Du  Sommerard ;  it  had  long  been  preserved  in 
the  abbey  of  Tournus,  south  of  Chalons,  and  was  said  to  be  in 
the  possession  of  M.  Carraud  about  twenty  years  ago.  The  fan 
of  queen  Theodolinda,  of  purple  vellum  with  ivory  handle,  given 
by  her  to  the  cathedral  of  Monza  is  still  preserved  there.  Other 
examples  are,  perhaps,  still  existing ;  two  or  three  are  mentioned 
by  writers  of  the  last  century. 

Inventories  of  churches  and  monasteries  include  the  fan.  In 
one  of  Amiens,  about  1300,  is  "  flabellum  factum  de  serico  et 
auro  ad  repellendas  muscas."  Another,  of  the  Sainte  Chapelle 
at  Paris,  1363,  gives  "  Item,  duo  flabella,  viflgariter  nun- 
cupata  muscalia,  oriiata  perlis."  Nor  ought  we  to  omit  some 
entries  of  the  same  kind  in  English  inventories.  In  one,  of  the 
cathedral  of  Salisbury,  in  13 14,  are  "ij  flabella  de  serico  et  perga- 
meno."  The  church  of  St.  Faith,  in  the  crypt  of  St.  Paul's,  pos- 
sessed among  its  ornaments  in  1298  "unum  muscatorium  de 
pennis  pavonum."  Still  more  to  our  present  purpose  was  the  fan 
given  to  a  chantry  in  the  cathedral  of  Rochester,  by  bishop 
Hanno,  in  1346  ;  "unum  flabellum  de  serico  cum  virga  eburnea:" 
or  the  "  flabellum  de  serico  "  named  in  the  inventory  of  ^^he  pro- 
perty of  Robert  Bilton,  bishop  of  Exeter,  in  1330.  John  Newton, 
treasurer  of  York  minster,  gave  to  that  church  about  the  year 
1400  a  splendid  fan,  which  was  in  the  treasury  there  when  every- 
thing of  the  kind  was  destroyed  by  the  commissioners  of  Edward 


96  IVORIES. 

the  sixth :  "  Manubrium  flabelli  argenteum  deauratum,  ex  dona 
Joh.  Newton,  cum  ymagine  episcopi  in  fine  enameled,  pond'  v. 
unc."  It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  fans  were  used  in  England 
at  mass  even  in  parochial  or  country  churches  until  a  late  period. 
The  following  entry  occurs  in  the  accounts  of  the  churchwardens 
of  Walberswick,  in  Suffolk  :  a  payment  in  the  year  1493  for  "a 
bessume  of  pekok's  fethers,  iv.  d." 

Care  must  be  observed,  however,  not  to  set  down  all  works  in 
ivory  which  are  similar  to  no.  373  as  having  been  the  handles  of 
ecclesiastical  fans.  Other  church  ceremonies  required  utensils  of 
the  same  kind  ;  though,  probably,  they  were  seldom  if  ever  sa 
profusely  decorated  and  enriched  with  carving.  For  example, 
holy-water  sprinklers  would  often  have  had  ivory  handles  ;  and 
one  is  specified  as  belonging  to  St.  Paul's  in  1295,  "  aspersorium 
de  ebore."  More  than  this  ;  whip  handles,  which  we  see  on 
mirror  cases  and  in  illuminations,  and  other  like  things  were  made 
and  ornamented  for  secular  purposes.  Hearne  gives  a  copy  of  a 
curious  inscription  on  the  handle  of  a  whip  found  in  the  ruins  of 
the  abbey  of  St.  Alban.  It  commemorates  the  gift  of  four  horses 
to  the  monks  of  that  house  from  Gilbert  of  Newcastle.  Hearne 
leaves  the  date  of  the  handle  doubtful,  but  is  disposed  to  put  it 
about  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  centur)\ 

The  wife  of  Roger  de  Mortimer  of  Wigmore  castle  in  Here- 
fordshire had,  among  other  valuable  things  as  specified  in  the 
inventory  taken  in  Edward  the  second's  reign  (before  quoted) 
"  item,  j  scourgiam  de  ebore." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

The  South  Kensington  museum  is  rich  in  ivory  statuettes  :  many 
of  them  are  very  beautiful,  although  none  is  equal  to  a  large 
sitting  figure  of  the  Virgin  in  the  British  museum  or  to  two  or 
three  of  the  finest  in  the  collections  at  Paris,  Almost  all  of  these 
statuettes  represent  the  Virgin  and  Child  ;  naturally,  this  would 
be  a  subject  most  frequently  in  demand  for  private  oratories. 
Almost  always  the  Virgin  bears  the  tokens  of  her  spiritual  glory 
and  privileges.  To  adopt  the  words  of  a  French  writer  on 
another  class  of  ivory  carvings,  "  La  Vierge  mere  et  reine  porte 
glorieuse  les  trois  signes  de  son  incomparable  grandeur ;  la  fleur 
de  sa  purete  immaculee,  le  fruit  beni  qui,  loin  de  fle'trir,  a  embelli 
sa  fleur;  et  la  couronne  qui  a  consomme  ses  privileges  en 
couronnant  ses  vertus." 

Generally  speaking,  the  statuettes  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
thirteenth  and  throughout  the  fourteenth  century  are  pure  and 
religious  in  style,  with  an  admirable  expression  of  love  and 
reverence  in  the  figures,  perfectly  natural.  There  are  two  or  three 
examples  in  the  collections  at  South  Kensington  and  the  British 
museum,  which  may  well  claim  all  the  praise  which  M.  Labarte 
gives  to  a  group  of  the  coronation  of  the  Virgin  and  to  a  Virgin 
and  Child,  both  now  preserved  in  the  Louvre.  He  speaks  of  the 
simplicity  of  the  composition ;  the  refinement  and  truthfulness  of 
the  forms  ;  the  appropriate  inflexions  of  the  body  and  limbs ; 
the  imitation  of  real  life ;  the  just  expression  given  to  the  faces  ; 

H 


98  IVORIES. 

and  the  natural  development  and  treatment  of  the  draperies.  So, 
again,  we  may  quote  his  exact  words,  and  say  of  more  than  one 
statuette  in  these  great  collections:  "Quelle purete  dans  le  dessin, 
quelle  noblesse  dans  la  pose,  quelle  finesse  dans  le  modele,  quelle 
ampleur  et  quelle  degance  dans  la  disposition  de  la  draperie  ! 
Cette  statuette  montre  a  quel  haut  degre  de  perfection  etait 
parvenue  la  sculpture  chretienne  k  la  fin  du  [quatorzieme]  siecle." 

The  seals  attached  to  mediaeval  deeds  are  important  illustra- 
tions of  the  mode  of  treatment  of  the  subject  of  the  Virgin  and 
Child,  so  common  in  the  statuettes  of  the  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth centuries.  Take,  for  instance,  some  in  the  Bodleian 
library.  The  seal  of  the  prior  and  convent  of  Wyrmeseye 
(Wormegay)  in  Norfolk,  attached  to  a  deed  of  1347,  has  a  seated 
Virgin  suckling  the  Child,  her  right  hand  uplifted.  Another  of 
the  convent  of  Castle  Acre,  1290,  a  similar  subject.  Another,  of 
one  of  the  parties  to  a  deed  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
1376,  has  the  Virgin  sitting,  facing,  and  holding  the  Child  standing 
on  her  lap,  a  sceptre  in  her  right  hand ;  another,  showing  the 
peculiar  twist  of  the  figure  (presently  to  be  noticed)  is  on  the  seal 
of  the  convent  of  West  Acre,  in  Norfolk. 

There  are  several  also  in  the  British  museum  :  especially  a 
very  fine  seal  of  Southwick  Priory,  early  fourteenth  century  ;  the 
Virgin  sitting  and  suckling  the  Infant,  under  a  canopy  of  a  single 
arch ;  another,  the  same  subject,  thirteenth  century,  of  Oseney 
abbey ;  another,  same  date,  of  Elsing  Spittle  priory,  the  Virgin 
standing  with  the  child  under  a  rich  canopy. 

Sometimes  ivory  statuettes  are  still  found  placed  under 
canopies  and  with  shutters  or  wings  to  fold  round  them,  so  as 
either  to  make  shrines  for  an  oratory  or,  portable,  to  be  carried 
by  the  owners  on  their  journeys.  More  often,  examples  of  this 
kind  are  not  finished  in  the  back  or  are  still  left  attached  to  the 
ground  of  the  block  of  ivory,  carved  however  in  very  high  relief. 
The  shrine  no.  4686,  is  a  good  specimen.  When  so  treated,  the 
shutters  are  richly  decorated  on  the  inside  with  scenes  from  the 


IVORIES.  99 

gospels,  usually  relating  to  the  Nativity  or  to  the  Passion  of  our 
Lord. 

Of  this  style  were  the  shrines  or  triptychs  at  Lincoln,  in  1536: 
"  A  tabernacle  of  two  leaves,  gemmels  [hinges]  and  lock  of  silver, 
containing  the  coronation  of  our  Lady  ;"  and  "  item,  a  tabernacle 
of  ivory  standing  upon  four  feet  with  two  leaves,  with  one  image 
of  our  Lady  in  the  middle,  and  the  salutation  of  our  Lady  in  one 
leaf,  and  the  nativity  of  our  Lady  in  the  other." 

There  are  two  remarkable  and  important  illuminations  in  the 
manuscript  psalter  of  queen  Mary,  which  has  been  more  than 
once  referred  to  (p.  74).  In  one  is  a  shrine,  open,  with  the 
decorations  usual  early  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The  centre  is 
divided  into  two  compartments.  Above  is  the  Annunciation ; 
the  Blessed  Virgin  and  an  angel ;  each  under  a  pointed  arch, 
cusped  and  crocketed.  Below,  is  the  Visitation  ;  Elizabeth  and 
the  Virgin  meet  under  a  gateway  and  embrace.  The  wings  are 
filled  with  saints,  each  standing  under  a  pointed  arch.  This 
illumination  precedes  the  psalter,  following  the  calendar,  after  the 
Old  Testament  history.  The  other  represents  a  triptych  :  in  the 
middle  is  the  Virgin  and  Child;  she  is  sitting  and  giving  Him  the 
breast ;  two  angels  stand  by,  swinging  censers  ;  in  each  wing  is  an 
angel  with  a  candlestick. 

The  mediaeval  artist  may  have  drawn  these  with  examples 
now  in  the  South  Kensington  museum  before  him  as  his  models. 

Figures  carved  in  such  deep  relief  as  almost  to  be  statuettes 
occasionally  but  very  rarely  occur  in  diptychs.  A  remarkable 
specimen  was  in  the  Meyrick  collection  j  an  illustration  is  given 
(p.  100)  of  one  of  the  leaves.  Probably  no  diptych  exists  in  any 
collection  equalling  this  in  the  depth  to  which  the  figures  have 
been  cut  in  relief.  Each  is  brought  out  from  the  background 
three  quarters  of  an  inch.  On  the  other  leaf  is  the  Virgin  and 
Child.  An  inscription  is  incised  upon  the  book  which  our 
Lord  holds  in  His  left  hand :  "  Ego  su.  dns.  ds  tuus  Ic.  xpc.  qi. 
creavi  redemi  &  salvabo  te."     Both  figures  have  great  grace  and 


100 


IVORIES. 


dignity;  and  the  draperies  are  arranged  with  unusual  simpHcity 

and  breadth. 

There  was  also  another  very  curious  mode  of  carving  statuettes 

of  the  Virgin,  of  which  extant 
specimens  are  extremely  rare, 
and  none  (it  is  believed)  is  to  be 
found  in  England.  There  is  one, 
well  known,  in  the  gallery  of  the 
Louvre,  engraved  in  the  useful 
book  of  M.  Viollet  le  Due,  dic- 
tionnaire  de  mobilier  Fi'ancais.  It 
is  a  sitting  figure  of  our  Lady,  who 
is  holding  the  Infant  on  her  knees. 
The  front  part  is  divided  down 
the  middle  and  two  wings  fall 
back  on  hinges,  leaving  a  centre- 
jDiece  and  forming  a  triptych  of 
the  usual  character.  There  are 
scenes  from  the  Passion  on  the 
wings,  and  the  Crucifixion  is 
carved  upon  the  centre.  The  date 
of  the  ivory  is  early  in  the  four- 
teenth century  ;  but  the  fashion  of 
this   kind    of    statuette     can     be 

tiiiiiMiiittiii   mil  iiiii    I     iitiiii   ii      -iiiiiii    traced    to   a    much   earlier    time. 
■il'l'lll'i     I  I      lllll    An  entry   in  an  inventory  of  the 

church  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris  in 

1343    mentions    one  :     "  quaedam 

alia  ymago  eburnea  valde  antiqua 

scisa  per  medium  et  cum  j'maginibus  sculptis  in  appertura,  que 

solebat  poni  super  magnum  altare." 

Occasionally  statuettes  are  mentioned  in  English  inventories ; 
thus  in  the  inventory  of  Roger  de  Mortimer,  a  coffer  is  included, 
containing  with  other  tilings  "  j  parvam  imaginem  beats  Virginis 


IVORIES.  10 1 

de  ebore."  Again,  "  a  lityll  longe  box  of  yvery  with  an  ymage  of 
our  lady  of  yvery  therein  closyd  "  is  named  among  the  goods 
belonging  in  1534  to  the  guild  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin  at  Boston, 
in  Norfolk, 

A  very  fine  statuette  of  English  work,  more  than  nine  inches 
in  height,  has  been  for  some  years  on  loan  to  the  South  Kensing- 
ton museum ;  it  belonged  to  the  late  Mr.  Hope  Scott,  and  was 
formerly  Lord  Shrewsbury's.  The  Virgin  is  in  a  sitting  position 
and  holds  a  large  flower  in  her  right  hand.  She  wears  a  crown 
under  Avhich  is  the  veil,  and  her  drapery  falls  over  her  knees  to 
the  feet  in  heavy  and  deeply-carved  folds.  The  face  of  the  Virgin 
is  very  beautiful  and  full  of  affectionate  expression ;  the  head  also 
of  the  Child  is  unusually  good.  The  ends  of  the  throne  are 
carved  in  relief,  each  with  a  figure  of  a  female  saint  sitting  under 
a  bold  decorated  canopy.  Many  portions  of  the  original  gilding 
remain  upon  the  hair  and  on  the  borders  of  the  vestments. 

The  largest  known  statuette  was  in  the  possession  of  the  late 
Mr.  Alexander  Barker ;  and  this  is  not  only  remarkable  for  its 
size  and  height  but  is  graceful  in  design,  and  from  the  hand  of  a 
good  artist.  It  is  French,  probably  of  the  Burgundian  school,  and 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  The  Blessed  Virgin  is  standing,  carry- 
ing the  Child ;  both  hold  in  one  hand  a  fruit,  perhaps  an  apple. 
The  figures  are  vested  much  in  the  same  manner  as  the  statuette 
no.  4685  at  South  Kensington,  and  the  draperies  have  gilded 
borders  with  a  running  scroll ;  the  linings  of  the  robes  of  both 
are  painted  dark  blue.  The  hair  of  the  Virgin  and  of  the  Infant 
has  been  gilded.  The  perpendicular  height  of  this  statuette 
is  twenty-three  inches,  and  the  extreme  width  at  the  base  six 
inches.  The  figure  is  hollow  as  far  as  the  tusk  was  so,  and  slopes 
to  the  left  in  accordance  with  its  natural  growth.  The  height  to 
the  girdle  is  fifteen  inches,  and  the  Infant  sitting  on  His  mother's 
arm  measures  seven  and  a  half  inches.  From  the  chin  to  the  top 
of  the  head  of  the  Virgin  is  three  inches.  The  tusk  curves  in- 
wards at  the  waist  two  inches  from  a  line  falling  from  the  back  of 


I02  IVORIES. 

the  head  to  the  lowest  part  of  the  drapery  which  covers  the 
feet. 

Every  one  must  have  remarked  the  bend  or  twist  so  often  given 
to  statues,  carved  from  stone,  of  the  Virgin  and  of  female  saints 
which  fill  the  niches  of  churches  and  cathedrals  built  in  the  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries.  The  necessity  which  obliged 
the  workman  in  ivory  to  follow  the  natural  form  of  the  tusk  in  all 
statuettes  of  such  a  size,  or  of  nearly  so  great  a  size,  as  that 
which  has  been  just  described,  certainly  did  not  press  upon  sculp- 
tors whose  material  was  stone  and  comparatively  unlimited.  But 
the  position  had  perhaps  become,  as  it  were,  a  fashion,  and  the 
style  conventional  and  pleasing  to  eyes  accustomed  daily  to  see 
statues  so  leaning  aside  in  their  own  oratories. 

The  same  slope  or  twist  is  to  be  seen  often  in  the  figure  of  the 
Virgin  in  the  centre  of  the  volute  of  the  head  of  a  pastoral  staff  ; 
where,  so  far  as  abundance  of  material  was  concerned,  there  was 
not  the  least  necessity  for  any  deviation  from  an  upright  into  an 
unnatural  attitude. 

Again,  in  statuettes  in  silver  or  other  metal :  as,  for  example, 
in  the  silver  Virgin  and  Child  in  the  South  Kensington  museum  ; 
and  in  another,  also  silver,  standing  on  the  cover  of  an  oblong 
reliquary,  and  said  to  represent  Jeanne  d'Evreux,  queen  of 
France.     This  last  is  among  the  collections  of  the  Louvre. 

Before  we  pass  on  to  another  question,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
make  a  few  remarks  upon  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  affecting 
of  all  the  works  in  ivory  which  have  come  down  to  us  from 
mediaeval  times.  This  is  a  piece,  small  in  size  and  carved  upon 
both  sides,  which  has  probably  been  in  the  volute  of  a  bishop's 
pastoral  staff.  On  one  side  is  a  group  of  our  Lord  in  the  garden 
of  Gethsemane,  praying  in  His  agony,  and  with  the  apostles  lying 
asleep  below.  On  the  other  is  a  second  group,  a  Pietk ;  the 
blessed  Virgin  seated  and  holding  the  dead  body  of  our  Lord 
upon  her  lap.     A  woodcut  is  given  of  this  important  sculpture. 

Perhaps  there  are  few  works  of  ]\Iichael  Angelo  which  have 


IVORIES. 


103 


been  more  praised,  or  which  have  excited  more  enthusiasm  than 
his  group  of  the  same  subject  in  St.  Peter's.     We  will  listen  for 
a  minute  to  two  or  three 
writers    who     have     espe- 
cially  drawn   attention    to 
his  famous  Pietk. 

One  says :  "  The  cele- 
brated Pieta  now  adorns 
the  first  right-hand  chapel 
on  entering  the  great  door 
of  St.  Peter's.  It  consists 
of  two  figures,  the  Virgin 
Mother,  seated  in  a  dig- 
nified attitude,  and  sup- 
porting on  her  knees  a 
dead  Christ,  Whom  she 
regards  with  inexpressible  reverence,  tenderness,  and  grief.  .  . 
Its  touching  pathos,  its  dignified  conception,  and  its  masterly 
execution,  are  incontestable." 

A  French  critic  Avrites :  "  Cette  Pieta  fut  la  premiere  oeuvre 
de  Michel  Ange  qui  I'eleva  au  premier  rang  et  apprit  son  nom  a 
tons  les  echos  du  monde  civilise;"  and  the  same  author  further 
speaks  of  the  group  as  having  been  "  the  conception "  of  the 
artist,  and  "  a  creation  "  of  his  imagination. 

Another  writes  :  "  When  this  group  was  finished  it  was  univer- 
sally admired,"  and  goes  on  to  state  that  "one  of  the  great 
sculptors  of  the  present  day,  our  fellow-countryman  Gibson,  ex- 
pressed himself  in  terms  of  high  admiration." 

Once  more ;  a  writer  upon  the  Tuscan  school :  "  In  this 
admirable  group  the  dead  body  of  our  Lord  lies  upon  the  lap  of 
the  Madonna,  while  her  left  hand  is  half  opened  and  slightly 
turned  back,  with  a  gesture  which  carries  out  the  pitying  expres- 
sion of  her  face.  The  Christ  shows  a  purity  of  style  and  deep 
feeling,   combined  with  a  grandeur  which  Michel  Angelo  drew 


I04  IVORIES. 

from  himself  alone."  The  same  writer  tells  us  a  few  pages 
before  :  "  Michael  Angelo,  who  was  an  enemy  to  tradition  in  art, 
as  well  as  to  a  positive  imitation  of  nature,  took  a  path  diametri- 
cally opposed  to  that  followed  by  the  conventionalists,  the  realists, 
and  the  worshippers  of  the  antique," 

We  entirely  dissent  from  the  unmeasured  laudation  here  ^ven 
to  the  famous  statue  at  St.  Peter's.  Let  the  praise  of  originality 
of  conception,  as  well  as  of  merit  of  execution  (so  far  as  the  size 
of  his  material  would  permit)  be  given  where  it  is  due,  to  the 
sculptor  of  the  fourteenth  century,  who  died  a  hundred  years 
before  Michael  Angelo  was  born.  Nay,  more  than  this;  an 
unprejudiced  comparison  will  show  that  where  the  work  of  the 
great  Italian  differs  from  the  earlier  Pieta,  it  differs  for  the  worse. 
In  the  ivory  the  position  of  the  head  and  the  cold  stiffness  of  the 
limbs  are  more  death-like  and  more  solemn  than  in  the  marble. 
In  the  ivory  also  the  Mother  seems  to  be  thinking  more  of  the 
past  pains  and  sufferings  of  her  Divine  Son  than  of  her  own 
sorrows  :  tenderly  she  supports  the  Saviour's  head  with  her  right 
hand,  and,  as  it  were,  still  clings  to  Him  and  draws  Him  to  her 
with  the  other ;  not,  as  in  the  marble  at  Rome,  stretching  out  and 
opening  her  hand  as  if  to  show  her  misery  and  the  terrible  extent 
of  her  bereavement.  The  mediaeval  artist  remembered  that  the 
sad  cry  of  the  prophet  in  the  book  of  Lamentations  referred  not 
to  His  mother  but  to  Christ :  "  Was  there  ever  any  sorrow  like 
unto  my  sorrow  ?  " 

It  was  a  common  practice  in  the  middle  ages  to  colour 
statuettes  and,  indeed,  also  other  things,  such  as  triptychs, 
diptychs,  and  the  covers  of  writing-tablets.  Traces  of  this 
colouring  are  still  visible  on  many  examples.  The  robes  and 
vestments  were  painted  red  or  blue,  with  borders  of  a  different 
colour  and  often  diapered  with  patterns  in  gold.  The  interesting 
illustration  (opposite)  of  a  painter  at  work  upon  a  statuette,  an 
illumination  in  a  French  manuscript  of  the  fifteenth  century,  is 
copied  from  M.  Labarte's  work  on  the  industrial  arts. 


IVORIES. 


105 


Modern  taste  runs  generally^  with  regard  to  this  question, 
in  opposition  to  the  old  ;  but  we  are  not,  therefore,  hurriedly 
to  decide  against  colour  as  altogether  barbarous  or  improper. 
Sculpture,  people 
thought  in  former 
days,  gained  an 
improved  effect  by 
such  additional 
help,  and  certainly 
the  use  of  colour 
was  an  attempt  to 
give  a  more  real 
appearance  and 
more  true  to  na- 
ture. The  carvers 
in  ivory  could  more- 
over (if  they  had 
known  the  fact)  have 
appealed  to  the  best 
period  of  the  Greek  school  ;  to  the  works  of  Phidias  and 
Praxiteles.  The  chryselephantine  statues  in  the  temples  of 
Athens  and  Olympia  had  the  same  character  of  ornament  and 
.  variety  of  material. 

Writers  on  art  who  hold  that  the  legitimate  province  of  sculp- 
ture is  simply  to  represent  by  form  are  inclined  to  condemn  any 
addition  of  colour  as  interfering  with  that  definition.  They  say 
that  if  sculpture  be  painted  it  is  a  mixture  of  two  arts  :  as  it  is 
also  if  a  picture  be  relieved  or  raised  in  any  part ;  after  the 
manner  of  the  Byzantine  pictures  by  Italian  painters  of  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries.  But  it  by  no  means  follows  that  such  a 
mixture  is  necessarily  false  in  taste ;  rather  it  must  be  left  to  the 
judgment  and  decision  of  the  time  and  of  the  country  for  which 
the  sculptures  are  made. 

A  recent  contributor  to  an  art  periodical,  writing  of  imitation 


io6  IVORIES. 

of  nature  in  statues  by  colour,  dogmatises  without  doubt  or 
hesitation  and  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  such  statues  are 
"  not  to  be  regarded  as  sculpture.  Nor  can  those  representations 
of  the  human  form  which  are  made  to  counterfeit  life  itself,  and 
dressed  it  may  be  in  the  actual  attire  of  the  person  pourtrayed,  be 
spoken  of  as  sculpture.  Regarded  from  the  sculptor's  point  of 
view,  such  productions  can  only  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  tricks, 
or,  at  the  best,  of  clever  forgeries  of  nature."  Criticism  such  as 
this  seems  to  want  the  right  quality  of  discretion. 

Although  it  is  quite  true  that  the  works  of  the  Greek  sculptors, 
during  the  two  or  three  hundred  years  of  the  greatest  perfection 
to  which  the  art  of  sculpture  has  ever  reached,  are  not  to  be 
praised  as  the  greatest  and  most  successful  of  all  statues  because 
they  were  coloured  or  otherwise  made  to  imitate  reality  ;  yet  the 
intention  was  good,  and  in  obedience  to  the  universal  demand 
and  feeling  of  a  people  wonderfully  fitted  by  nature,  education, 
and  experience  to  come  to  a  right  conclusion  on  the  matter.  We 
are  unaccustomed  in  our  own  days  to  statues  except  those  which, 
whether  draped  or  undraped,  are  left  in  the  original  pure  white- 
ness of  the  ivory  or  marble ;  we  think  that  nothing  is  to  be  so 
much  approved  as  what  we  call  simplicity.  We  may  be  right, 
not  only  as  to  what  Ave  hold  to  be  pleasing  to  ourselves,  but  as  to 
what  ought  to  be  pleasing  to  and  held  to  be  correct  by  every  one 
and  in  every  age.  On  the  other  hand,  we  may  not  be  right  after 
all ;  and  a  little  more  caution  and  hesitation  might  be  advisable 
before  we  condemn,  merely  as  a  matter  of  abstract  taste,  a 
practice  which  seems  to  have  recommended  itself  to  almost  every 
people  of  the  world,  as  in  some  way  in  accordance  with  the 
common  sentiment  of  humanity  itself;  which  was  accepted  by 
highly  civilised  nations  from  the  days  of  the  Egyptian  and 
Assyrian  kings  down  to  the  fifteenth  century  of  the  Christian  sera ; 
and  which  can  appeal  in  its  support  to  artists  whose  works  have 
ever  been  acknowledged  to  be  the  masterpieces  of  the  world. 

It  has  just  been  said  that  the  great  works  of  Phidias  and  his 


IVORIES.  107 

pupils  are  not  to  be  praised  merely  because  they  were  coloured 
nor  because  no  mode  of  enrichment,  gold  or  jewels  or  ivory  or 
•enamelling,  was  grudged  as  being  too  costly  in  order  to  adorn 
them.  So,  again,  the  use  of  colours  is  not  to  be  condemned 
because  the  statues  of  some  very  ancient  nations  are  coarse  and 
rude,  or  because  the  idols  of  the  old  Mexicans  or  of  the  savages 
of  Africa  and  New  Zealand  are  made  by  it  even  more  hideous 
than  they  would  otherwise  be.  The  wide-spread  observance  of 
the  practice  is  the  point  to  be  considered ;  and  the  fact  that  it 
rests  upon  some  deep-seated  and  universal  feeling  in  the  mind  of 
all  men,  of  all  countries,' and  of  almost  every  age. 

Regarded  as  a  mode  of  handing  down  to  future  generations 
the  memory  of  much  which  would  have  been  lost  for  want  of  it, 
who  can  complain  of  the  careful  colouring  of  mediaeval  tombs  and 
monuments  ?  We  are  indebted  to  it  for  exact  details  of  dresses 
and  jewelry  and  armour  :  about  which  there  can  therefore  be  no 
longer  any  dispute,  and  which  give  the  answer  at  once  to  many 
difliculties  and  many  interesting  subjects  of  inquiry.  Nowadays 
we  should  almost  shudder  at  a  statue  painted  and  coloured  to 
imitate  the  muslins  and  silks  worn  in  Hyde  Park  by  women,  and 
the  various  coats  and  trowsers  of  the  men.  But  five  hundred 
years  hence  some  of  our  descendants  would  be  grateful  if,  in  spite 
of  our  own  prejudices,  we  had  given  them  even  one  statue  among 
the  many  of  our  Queen  or  of  the  prince  Consort,  not  left  in  the 
bare  uncoloured  silence  of  the  marble. 

Crucifixes  in  ivory  of  the  middle  ages  are  extremely  rare  ;  they 
may  remain  still  in  use  in  some  churches  abroad,  but  whether 
abroad  or  at  home  they  are  seldom  found  in  the  collection  of  any 
museum.  There  is  one,  although  a  fragment  yet  very  beautiful, 
in  the  South  Kensington  collection:  no.  212.  The  figure  is 
represented  after  death ;  but  the  still  suffering  expression  of  the 
drooping  head,  the  strained  muscles  across  the  breast  showing  the 
ribs,  and,  as  it  were,  the  struggle  of  the  legs  contracted  in  the  last 
agony,  are  admirably  given.     The  eyes  are  closed,  the  forehead 


io8  IVORIES. 

drawn  with  pain,  the  mouth  open.  The  body  is  clothed  with  a 
garment  crossed  in  white  folds  over  the  loins  and  falling  to  the 
-knees.  It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  this  beautiful  figure  has 
been  so  mutilated.  The  conception  of  the  artist  is  full  of  true 
feeling  and  devotion,  and  his  treatment  of  the  subject  an  excellent 
example  of  the  right  union  of  conventionality  with  enough  of 
what  is  real.  As  with  regard  to  the  heads  of  pastoral  staffs,  so 
also  it  is  not  easy  to  say  why  medieval  crucifixes  should  be 
so  uncommon  :  for,  although  there  must  have  been  hundreds 
wilfully  destroyed  and  broken  in  England  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  same  reason  does  not  apply  to  other  countries,  where  the 
demand  and  the  supply  both  for  the  churches  and  for  private  use 
must  have  been  continual  and  almost  without  limit. 

There  are  numerous  records  still  remaining  in  our  public 
cfiftces  and  in  the  muniment-rooms  of  many  dioceses,  which  leave 
us  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  extent  and  completeness  of  the  destruction 
of  the  furniture  and  goods  of  English  churches  and  cathedrals 
from  the  year  1550  to  1570.  In  the  very  valuable  series  of 
returns  made  by  the  commissioners  for  the  county  of  Lincoln,  the 
lists  of  items  are  generally  summed  up,  "  with  the  rest  of  the  trash 
and  tromperie  wch  appertaynid  to  the  popish  service."  Even 
with  respect  to  objects  for  which  one  would  have  supposed  that 
some  slight  reverence  would  have  still  been  felt,  such  as  crucifixes 
and  altars,  we  have  entries  like  the  following  in  one  parish  alone  : 
"  Item  ij  altar  stones  ;  which  is  defacid  and  layd  in  high  waies  and 
sarveth  as  bridges  for  sheepe  and  cattail  to  go  on  ;"  in  another, 
"  Item,  iij  altar  stones  broken  and  defacid,  thone  [the  one]  solde 
vnto  Thomas  Woodcroft,  who  turned  it  to  a  cestron  bottom, 
thother  aboute  the  mending  of  the  church  wall  and  the  thirde 
sett  in  a  fire  herthe." 

An  unusually  good  and  large  ivory  crucifix  is  preserved  in  the 
Catholic  chapel  in  Spanish  Place,  London.  It  was  given  to  the 
chapel  about  thirty  years  ago  but  for  some  time  retained  by  the 
late  cardinal  Wiseman,  by  whose  permission  it  was  shown  in  the 


IVORIES.  109 

Great  Exhibition  of  1851.  The  date  is,  perhaps,  late  in  the 
seventeenth  century ;  Spanish  work ;  about  a  foot  in  height ;  and 
the  arms  of  the  suspended  body  are  less  extended  than  in  the 
mediaeval  times.  The  figure  is  coloured  with  great  care  to  imitate 
life ;  blood  flows  from  the  wounds,  and  the  streams  where  they 
meet  are  jewelled  with  small  rubies.  The  flesh  of  the  knees  is 
broken  and  mangled. 

Excellent  as  this  crucifix  is  as  a  mere  work  of  art,  it  utterly 
fails  in  calling  forth  expression  of  pure  religious  sentiment.  The 
reality  of  treatment  in  the  figure  of  our  dying  Lord  is  too  near 
truth,  and  is  at  the  same  time  untrue.  So  far  as  it  has  left  the 
old  type  it  has  lost  power  to  influence  devotion.  The  earlier 
conventional  crucifix,  which  left  all  to  the  imagination  and  never 
aimed  at  perfectly  representing  a  man  dying  on  a  cross,  was 
immeasurably  more  fitting  and  more  reverential. 

The  diptychs  of  the  middle  ages  for  public  and  private  devo- 
tion have  been  already  spoken  of.  But  besides  these,  two  leaves 
occur  not  unfrequently  which  are  strictly  diptychs  and  were  used 
for  the  same  purpose  as  the  picgillares  in  the  old  days  of  imperial 
Rome.  Single  plaques  are  very  common,  and  not  only  are  they 
usually  small  in  size  but  may  almost  always  be  distinguished  from 
diptychs  of  the  religious  class  by  the  form  of  the  reverse  or  inside 
page  of  each  leaf.  This  has  been  hollowed  out  to  a  slight  depth, 
leaving  a  narrow  raised  rim  or  border  ;  and  wax  was  spread  over 
the  depressed  portion,  for  writing  upon  with  a  pointel  or  stylus ; 
the  other  end  of  which  was  flattened  to  erase  with.  We  thus  find 
brought  down  through  fifteen  hundred  years  the  practice  of  the  days 

of  Ovid : 

"  Et  meditata  manu  componit  verba  trementi ; 
Dextra  tenet  ferrum,  vacuam  tenet  altera  ceram. 
Incipit,  et  dubitat :  scribit,  damnatque  tabellas  : 
Et  notat,  et  delet,  etc." 

The  subjects  sculptured  on  the  outside  of  diptychs  of  this 
kind  generally  also  give  another  and  a  sufficient  distinction,  being 


no  IVORIES. 

perhaps  some  domestic  scene  or  a  story  from  a  romance,  as  upon 
combs  or  mirror  cases.  But  this  is  not  always  so  :  for  writing-tablets 
occasionally  are  found  with  subjects  taken  from  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

A  few  examples  of  these  writing-tablets  have  been  preserved 
which  have  several  leaves  of  ivory  inside ;  although  in  most 
instances  the  plain  leaves  have  been  lost  and  the  covers  alone 
remain.  A  very  fine  and  complete  set,  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
with  four  inner  leaves  is  engraved  by  Montfaucon  (in  his  great 
work  L'Anti quite  expliquee)  from  his  own  collection,  which  had 
scenes  carved  on  it  from  the  romance  of  Alexander.  Montfaucon 
describes  them  carefully  :  "  Notre  cabinet  en  a  de  cette  derniere 
matiere  (d'ivoire),  dont  les  deux  couvertures  ont  des  bas-reliefs 
d'un  gout  barbare.  Les  bords  des  tabletes  sont  relevez  de  tous 
les  cotez  :  ces  bords  relevez  laissent  un  petit  creux  pour  y  placer 
une  cire  prepare'e,  laquelle  e'levant  un  peu  le  page  rendoit  une 
face  unie  et  de  niveau  avec  les  bords ;  on  appelloit  ces  tabletes 
tabellcTi  ceratce.  On  gravoit  sur  cette  cire  pre'paree  ce  qu'on  vouloit 
ecrire,  et  Ton  effagoit  ce  qu'on  avoit  ecrit,  ou  en  y  passant  forte- 
ment  dessus  I'autre  cote  du  style,  quand  la  matiere  e'toit  plus 
gluante.  C'est  ce  que  les  anciens  appelloient  styhim  vertere,  etc." 
Judging  from  the  engraving  in  Montfaucon's  own  book,  it  would 
seem  that  these  tablets  were  the  work  of  a  good  artist  and  of  the 
best  time  of  that  particular  style ;  and  that  it  was  hard  to  speak 
of  them  as  "  d'un  gout  barbare." 

Ivory  writing-tablets  were  used  in  the  middle  ages  in  England 
by  people  of  all  ranks,  and  are  mentioned  in  inventories  and  wills. 
Chaucer  tells  us  of  the  preaching  friar's  companion  : 

'  "  His  felaw  had  a  staff  tipped  with  horn, 

A  pair  of  tables  all  of  ivory. 
And  a  pointel  ypolished  fetishly, 
And  wrote  alway  the  names,  as  he  stood 
Of  alle  folk  that  gaue  hem  any  good — 
— Or  geve  us  of  your  braun,  if  ye  have  any, 
A  dagon  of  your  blanket,  leve  dame, 
Our  suster  dere,  lo  here  I  write  your  name." 


IVORIES.  Ill 

A  characteristic  illustration  occurs  in  Shakespeare,  in  the 
second  part  of  King  Henry  the  fourth.  The  archbishop  of  York 
says  : 

*  .         .         .         the  king  is  weary 

Of  dainty  and  such  picking  grievances  ; 
And  therefore  will  he  wipe  his  tables  clean, 
And  keep  no  tell-tale  to  his  memory." 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  in  these  quotations  both  Chaucer  and 
Skakespeare  call  these  diptychs  by  the  name  "  tables,"  a  word 
which  had  several  meanings  formerly  in  England.  We  have  seen 
already  that  the  game  of  draughts  was  so  called,  and  it  was  also 
frequently  applied  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  to 
carvings  in  alabaster  or  to  paintings  on  boards  in  churches.  In 
1458  money  was  bequeathed  to  the  church  of  Dunwich  in  Suffolk, 
"  ad  novam  tabulam  de  alabastro  de  historia  sanctse  Margaretae," 
and  a  "  table  of  St.  Thomas  of  Ynde"  was  left  in  15 10  by  Robert 
Clerk  to  Batfield  church,  in  Norfolk. 

An  interesting  paper  in  the  Archseologia,  read  before  the 
Society  of  antiquaries  in  1843  by  Mr.  Albert  Way,  on  the  famous 
golden  Tabula  of  Basle  may  also  be  referred  to.  The  writer  con- 
cludes by  expressing  his  wish  that  such  a  monument,  then  in 
private  hands,  "  could  be  deposited  in  a  national  collection,"  and 
he  complains  that  "England  alone,  of  all  the  countries  of  western 
Europe,  possesses  no  national  collection  which  exhibits  a  series  of 
specimens  illustrative  of  the  character  and  progress  of  the  arts  of 
the  middle  ages,  and  of  the  taste  and  usages  of  our  ancestors." 
Happily,  this  is  a  complaint  which  cannot  be  made  now. 

Chaplets  of  ivory  beads  for  private  devotion  were  very  common 
in  the  middle  ages,  and  are  often  mentioned  in  letters  and  other 
documents.  Some  good  examples  still  exist  in  various  collec- 
tions. The  woodcut  on  the  next  page  represents  a  set,  and  a 
girdle  with  ivory  clasps,  in  the  collection  of  M.  Achille  Jubinal. 

Another  class  of  small  works  in  ivory  was  to  be  found  in 
England  from  an  early  period,  namely  seals.     Some  have  been 


112 


IVORIES. 


CARVED    IVORY    CHAPLET   OF    BEADS   AND   GIRDLE   OF   AN   ABBESS:   SIXTEENTH    CENTURY. 


IVORIES.  113 

preserved.  One  is  in  the  Ashmolean  at  Oxford ;  oval,  of  the 
archdeaconry  of  Merioneth,  in  the  thirteenth  century;  another, 
walrus  ivory,  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Alban  is  in  the  British 
museum, 

Robert  Fabyan  the  chronicler,  in  his  will  dated  151 1  leaves 
to  one  of  his  sons  "  that  other  signet  of  gold,  with  my  puncheon 
of  ivory  and  silver." 

There  are  several  very  fine  horns  in  the  South  Kensington 
collection,  more  especially  no.  7954^  engraved  in  the  accompany- 
ing woodcut,  and  which  is  unequalled  by  any  other  of  its  kind 


known.  The  style  and  workmanship  are  rare ;  one,  probably  by 
the  same  hand,  was  lately  in  the  possession  of  a  noble  English 
family.  The  horns  which  we  find  frequently  mentioned  in  me- 
diaeval wills  and  inventories  are  hunting  horns.  For  example.  Sir 
John  de  Foxle  in  1378  leaves  to  the  king  his  great  bugle  horn, 
ornamented  with  gold.  "  The  ivory  horn  of  St.  Oswald  the  king" 
was  preserved  at  Durham  in  the  year  1383.  Near  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century  there  were  two  ivory  horns  kept  in  the  treasury 
of  St.  Paul's  :  "  Item,  comu  eburneum  gravatum  bestiis  et  avibus, 
magnum.     Item,  aliud  comu  eburneum  planum  et  parvum." 

A  common  term  anciently  in  England  for  these  horns  was 
"  olifant,"  from  the  name  then  usually  given  to  the  elephant ;  for 
instance,  the  amusing  story  in  the  old  life  of  St.  Clement  in  Cax- 
ton's  Golden  Legend  :  "  When  Bamabe  came  to  Rome  prechynge 
y^  fayth  of  Jesu  Christ,  the  philosophers  mocked  hym  and  de- 
spysed  hys  predicacyon  and  in  scorne  put  to  hym  this  questyon 
sayenge.  What  is  y^  cause  y^  culex  whyche  is  a  lytell  beest  hath 

I 


114  IVORIES. 

vj.  feet  and  two  wynges  and  an  olyphaunte  whyche  ys  a  grete  beest 
hath  but  foure  feete  and  no  A\ynges,"  etc.  St.  Barnabas  rephed 
that  it  was  a  foohsh  question  and  needed  no  answer — the  more 
especially  as  they  knew  not  the  Creator  and  must  necessarily, 
therefore,  be  ignorant  about  his  creatures. 

There  is  only  one  horn  at  South  Kensington  which  can  be 
regarded  as  having  been  a  tenure  horn.  It  is  probable  that 
no.  7953  may  have  been  a  horn  of  that  kind.  Several  of  these 
tenure  horns  are  still  preserved  in  England  and  were  shown  in  the 
loan  exhibition  of  1862.  Among  them  the  most  famous  are  the 
horn  of  Ulphus,  in  the  treasury  at  York ;  the  horns  given  by 
Henry  the  first  to  the  cathedral  at  Carlisle  ;  and  the  Pusey  horn. 
The  ivory  hunting  horn  (so-called)  of  Charlemagne  is  kept  at  Aix 
la  Chapelle ;  and  another  said  to  have  been  Roland's  in  the  cathe- 
dral at  Toulouse. 

It  will  be  observed  by  those  who  examine  the  catalogue  of  the 
ivories  in  the  South  Kensington  museum  that  more  are  attributed 
to  the  fourteenth  century  than  to  any  other,  and  this  would 
be  correct  with  regard  also  to  the  collection  in  the  British 
museum,  or  at  Liverpool,  or  abroad.  Sculpture  in  ivory  was  very 
general  and  greatly  patronised  at  that  time ;  and,  with  the 
exception  of  a  very  few  examples  of  Roman  art  under  the 
emperors,  there  are  no  carvings  existing  Avhich  equal  those  made 
from  about  the  year  1280  to  1350,  either  in  truth  and  graceful- 
ness of  design  or  in  excellence  of  workmanship. 

We  find  also  in  carvings  of  that  period  the  best  examples  of 
the  very  beautiful  open  or  pierced  work  which  has  been  already 
spoken  of:  and  an  illustration  has  before  been  given  (p.  64) 
from  a  series  of  small  panels  in  the  Meyrick  collection.  No 
apology  will  be  required  for  adding  here  two  more  woodcuts  from 
ivories  of  the  same  character.  Both  are  engraved  of  the  exact 
size  of  the  originals. 

One  of  these  contains  two  compartments  from  the  splendid 
plaque,  no.  366,  in  the  South  Kensington  collection. 


IVORIES. 


Its 


The  other  is  a  complete  row  from  a  book  cover  -^^^^^ 
museum  •  divided  into  thirty  compartments,  each  an  mch  by 
museum  .  mv  in,possible  in  a  woodcut  to  do 

three  quarters  of  an  men.     J.t  i^       p 


more  than  attempt  to  give  some  idea  ot  the  marve  ous  dehcacy 
and  excellence  of  the  panel  itself,  .-hich  is  beyond  all  companson 
fte  very  finest  ivory  existing  of  its  peculiar  school.  Small  even 
minute,  as  the  divisions  are,  they  plainly  tell  the  story  wh.ch  each 


ii6  IVORIES. 

is  intended  to  represent ;  although  in  some  of  them  there  are  as 
many  as  seven  or  eight  figures,  finished  with  admirable  distinct- 
ness and  perfection.  The  subjects  in  this  row  are  the  offering  of 
St.  Joachim  ;  his  departure  into  the  desert ;  the  message  of  the 
angel  to  St.  Joachim ;  the  message  to  St.  Anne ;  the  meeting  of 
St.  Joachim  and  St.  Anne  at  the  gate  ;  and  the  birth  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  The  remaining  continue  the  legendary  life  of  our 
Lady,  and  the  history  of  our  Lord  from  the  gospels. 

Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  the  determination  of  the  par- 
ticular country  in  which  many  of  the  ivories  of  anediseval  times 
were  carved.  All  acknowledge  this,  and  they  the  most  readily 
who  have  had  the  widest  experience  and  the  best  opportunities  of 
examination.  It  has  long  been  a  custom  to  set  down  almost 
every  ivory  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  as  Flemish 
or  French,  leaving  but  few  except  the  Italian  marriage  caskets  to 
the  credit  of  other  countries.  But  (not  to  speak  of  Germany) 
there  can  be  no  question  that  carvings  in  ivory  were  then  much 
sought  after  and  bought  in  England,  and  that  there  must  have 
been  numerous  English  artists.  Two  unquestionable  examples  of 
the  English  school  of  the  fourteenth  century  are  in  the  British 
museum  :  a  triptych  which  was  carved  for  Grandison,  bishop  of 
Exeter;  and  one  leaf  of  a  diptych  which  was  also  made  for 
the  same  great  prelate,  and  still  retains  slight  traces  of  the 
painting  of  his  coat  of  arms.  A  woodcut  is  given  (p.  1 1 7 )  of  the 
single  leaf.  Generally,  we  may  agree  with  Sir  Digby  Wyatt, 
who  says  in  the  very  interesting  and  able  lecture  to  which 
reference  has  been  already  made  (p.  5),  that  "a  peculiar  nez 
retrousse,  a  dimpled,  pouting,  and  yet  smiling  mouth,  a  general 
gentillesse  of  treatment,  and  a  brilliant  yet  rapid  mode  of  technical 
execution,  stamp  the  French  work  with  an  almost  unmistakable 
character.  To  the  English  style  may  be  assigned  a  position 
midway  between  the  French  and  the  second  Italian  manner.  It 
does  not  exhibit  the  gaiety  and  tenderness  of  the  former,  nor  has 
it  quite  the  grandeur  of  the  latter,  but  it  is  marked  by  a  sober 


IVORIES. 


117 


earnestness  of  expression  in  serious  action  which  neither  of  those 
styles  possesses."  We  may  further  observe  that  the  Enghsh 
school  had  less  of  the 
monotony  and  man- 
nerism which  are  the 
derogatory  features  of 
continental  examples 
of  the  same  period ; 
in  fact,  English  gothic 
ivories  have  both  a 
purity  and  a  variety  of 
treatment  on  a  par 
with  the  admirable 
characteristics  of  con- 
temporary architecture 
in  this  country. 

The  names  of  me- 
diaeval artists  in  ivory 
are  almost  entirely  un- 
known. Sir  Digby 
Wyatt  and  Labarte 
say  that  they  have 
been  able  to  meet  with 
the  name  of  one  only, 
that  of  Jean  Lebrael- 
lier,  who  was  carver  to 
Charles  V.  of  France, 
and  is  mentioned  in 
the  inventory  of  that 


monarch  as  having 
executed  "  deux  grans  tableaulx  d'yvoire  des  troys  Maries."  We 
may  venture  to  add  the  name  of  one  other,  the  carver  of  a  pax 
in  the  British  museum,  Jehan  NicoUe ;  whose  work,  unlike  the 
^'  tables "    of  Lebraellier,    fortunately  still  exists.     His  name  is 


ii8  IVORIES. 

m 

incised  upon  the  pax  in  capital  letters ;  there  is  also  a  shield^, 
bearing  a  hammer  behind  two  crossed  swords. 

Very  few  Spanish  ivories  of  the  middle  ages  can  be  referred 
to,  and  those  which  we  possess  have  a  very  distinct  Moorish  or 
Arabic  character  about  them.  They  are  almost  all  either  caskets 
or  small  boxes,  and  some  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  treasuries  ot 
churches  in  Spain.  Strangely  enough,  it  is  said  that  there  are 
more  remaining  in  the  north  and  north-west  of  Spain,  where  the 
Moors  did  not  obtain  any  permanent  footing,  than  in  the  south  ; 
in  Andalusia  or  Granada.  Probably  this  is  owing  not  only  to  the 
circumstance  that  when  taken  to  other  parts  of  the  country  they 
were  regarded  as  valuable  curiosities,  but  also  more  especially 
because  of  the  natural  prejudice  in  the  south  against  keeping 
works  of  Moorisli  art  and  manufacture  as  reliquaries  or  pyxes,  or 
for  any  religious  use.  In  the  north  of  Spain  there  seems  to  have 
been  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  enclosing  relics  of  a  Christian 
saint  in  coffers  upon  which  Arabic  inscriptions  had  been  carved 
in  honour  of  Allah  and  his  prophet.  But  we  must  remember  that 
these  inscriptions  were  in  an  unknown  language. 

Some  of  the  ancient  Spanish  ivories  are  as  old  as  the  days  of 
the  Cordovan  caliphs  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries ;  a  fact 
which  we  are  now  able  to  decide  from  the  Arabic  inscriptions.  But 
where  such  evidence  is  wanting  there  is  scarcely  any  guide  to 
direct  us  in  fixing  the  date :  the  ivories  may  have  been  carved  at 
almost  any  time  down  to  the  conquest  of  Granada  by  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella.  Moorish  art,  like  the  Egyptian  or  Chinese,  changed 
but  little  from  age  to  age  ;  the  old  process  and  the  old  patterns 
were  handed  down,  unaltered,  from  father  to  son  ;  and  ivory 
carvings  may  have  been  made  in  various  parts  of  Spain  by 
Moorish  workmen  as  late  even  as  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

It  can  scarcely  be  out  of  place,  before  we  end,  to  add  one 
word  of  warning  with  regard  to  forgeries  of  ivory  carvings.  These 
are  sometimes  so  well  done  that  even  experienced  persons  might 
be  deceived.     Generall}',  the  period  chosen  for  imitations  is  what 


IVORIES.  119 

is  commonly  called  the  Carlovingian,  or  a  little  earlier ;  for  not 
only  are  genuine  pieces  rare  and  valuable,  but  being  often  coarse 
and  rudjf  in  style  are  more  easily  to  be  executed.  Forgeries  of 
consular  diptychs  have  been  frequently  made ;  and  with  regard  to 
one  of  these  it  is  well  to  place  on  record  the  following  facts  which 
have  been  kindly  supplied  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Franks,  of  the  British 
museum. 

"  The  leaf  of  the  diptych  of  the  consul  Anastasius,  now  in  the 
South  Kensington  museum,  was  exhibited  to  the  Society  of  anti- 
quaries, March  10,  1864,  and  described  by  me  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  society  (2nd  series,  vol.  2,  p.  364)  as  the  diptychon  Leodiense. 
The  other  leaf  was  known  to  have  been  for  some  years  in  the 
niuseum  at  Berlin.  It  was  therefore  with  considerable  surprise 
that  in  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1864,  I  found  exhibited  in 
the  Musee  de  la  Porte  de  Hal  at  Brussels  a  large  ivory  diptych 
purporting  to  be  the  diptycJwn  Leodiense.  Having  been  asked  by 
a  friend  at  Brussels  my  opinion  on  the  recent  acquisition  of  the 
Belgian  government,  I  ventured  to  express  some  doubts  in  the 
presence  of  a  gentleman  who  proved  to  be  at  the  head  of  the 
commission,  at  whose  recommendation  the  purchase  had  been 
made. 

"  I  advised  that  the  ivories  should  be  taken  out  of  the  wooden 
frames  into  which  they  were  fixed,  and  that  the  inscriptions  known 
to  have  been  on  the  genuine  diptych  should  be  sought  for.  On 
this  being  done,  the  falsity  of  the  diptych  became  evident,  the 
ivory  at  the  back  being  fresh  and  not  hollowed  out  for  the  reception 
of  wax. 

"  An  action  was  thereupon  brought  against  the  vendor,  a 
dealer  at  Lie'ge,  and  after  some  delay  the  amount  paid  by  the 
Belgian  government  (;^8oo)  was  recovered.  The  diptych  had 
been  copied  from  the  engraving  in  Wilthem's  work,  and  not  from 
the  original  leaves,  and  this  accounted  for  various  errors  in  the 
details." 

It  seems  strange   that   the   Belgian   authorities  should  have 


I20 


IVORIES. 


bought  at  so  great  a  sum  ivories  fixed  in  wooden  frames, 
without  some  suspicion  or  at  least  without  examination.  The 
Liege  dealer,  however,  is  not  the  only  one  who  has  at- 
tempted impositions  of  this  kind.  About  ten  years  ago  there 
were  four  or  five  large  ivories,  of  splendid  appearance,  in  the 
hands  of  some  London  dealers.  One  was  a  triptych ;  another  a 
diptych  ;  a  third  a  comb  ;  and  a  fourth  was  a  huge  shrine  with 
folding  shutters  and  a  tall  richly  decorated  canopy,  like  the  spire 
of  a  cathedral,  covering  a  statuette  of  the  Virgin  and  Child.  (The 
statuette  was  probably  genuine.)  These  ivories  j)urported  to  be 
of  the  fourteenth  century  but  were  all  new,  and  out  of  one  shop  or 
manufactory.  The  forgery  in  some  respects  was  successful ;  but 
in  every  piece  there  was  a  distinct  character  and  manner  of 
execution — the  same  exactly  in  all  of  them — which  proved  their 
falseness.  Several  were  traced  back  to  a  dealer  at  Amiens ;  and 
it  is  not  now  known  what  has  become  of  any  of  them.  The  great 
shrine  having  been  sold  to  an  English  collector  for  ;^5oo  was 
returned  ;  and  not  very  long  ago  was  still  to  be  seen  in  a  shop 
window  in  the  Strand  and  said  to  be,  as  if  to  make  confusion 
worse  confounded,  an  ivory  carving  of  the  tenth  century.  This, 
whilst  it  would  show  perhaps  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the 
possessor,  would  be  an  argument  that  he  might  be  innocent  of 
knowledge  of  the  forgery. 

The  public  institutions  in  England  in  which  important  ivories 
may  be  found  are  the  British  museum,  the  Ashmolean  and  Bodleian 
at  Oxford,  and  the  museum  given  to  the  town  of  Liverpool  with 
noble  liberality  by  Mr.  Joseph  Mayer.  It  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  scarcely  any  addition  has  been  made  to  the  ivories  in  the 
Ashmolean  since  the  time  when  they  were  originally  collected  by 
Elias  Ashmole  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago ;  and  they  are  of 
especial  interest  and  value,  though  not  many  in  number,  because 
they  can  reasonably  claim  with  scarcely  an  exception  to  be  of 
English  workmanship.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  other  three 
great  collections  had  also  been  gathered  together  before  they  be- 


IVORIES.  121 

came  the  property  of  the  nation.  The  Liverpool  ivories  were 
chiefly  obtained  from  the  representatives  of  the  late  Gabriel 
Fejervary ;  and,  in  like  manner,  the  South  Kensington  museum — 
begun  about  the  year  1853  and  gradually  enriched  by  the  acqui- 
sition of  some  rare  Spanish  ivories  and  some  of  the  best  pieces 
from  the  Soltikoff  collection,  selected  with  excellent  judgment  by 
Mr.  J.  C.  Robinson — has  received  from  time  to  time  during  the 
last  four  or  five  years  many  large  and  important  additions  from  the 
collection  made  by  John  Webb,  Esq.  More  than  two-thirds  of 
the  ivories  in  the  British  museum,  and  certainly  a  large  number 
of  the  most  valuable,  had  also  been  previously  collected  by  a 
private  person. 


THE   END. 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Abbreviations  of  legends  .     30 

^sculapius  and  Hygieia  .     32 

All  large    plaques    not    origi- 
nally diptychs      .         .         .42 
Angel,  on  leaf  of  diptych,   in 

British  museum  .  .  .35 
Arm  of  chair  .  .  .  .82 
Artists  in  ivory,  in  middle  ages  117 
Ashmole  collection  .  .  .  120 
Assyrian  ivories       .         .         •     ^5 

Bardolph,  hanged  for  stealing  a 

pax  .  .  .  .  -92 
Becker's  Lycoris  .  .  -34 
Bellerophon  .  .  .  .21 
Book  cover  of  ninth  century     .     48 

Casket  of  Arabic  work     .         -57 

,,       from  Memphis      .  .     14 

,,       Runic,  in  British  museum  52 

,,       from  Veroli  .         -55 

,,       in  inventories        .         .     60 

Caxton,  "  playe  of  the  chesse  "     76 

Chair  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome      .     56 

,,     at  Ravenna    .         .         -41 

Chalice,  Sec,  of  ninth  century  .     48 

Charlemagne,  his  patronage  of 

Greek  artists  .  .  '45 
Chessmen,    in    chronicles    and 

poems  .         .     78 

,,  earliest  date    .         .     78 

,,  date  of  invention    .     76 


in  inventories 
found  in  Lewis 


79 
80 


PAGET 

Chryselephantine  statues  .     18 

,,  of  the  due  de 

Luynes     .     19 
,,  conjectural  re- 

storation .  19 
Civilisation  of  ancient  nations  .  8 
Coffer,  sent  by  Eginhard  .     47 

,,     in  inventories        .         -ST 
Colour  in  sculpture  .         .104 

Combs,  domestic  .  .  -67 
,,  in  inventories  .  -71 
,,       pontifical     .  .  .69 

Consul,  decline  of  the  office     .     31 
,,       the  last       .         .         -31 
Consular  diptychs   .         .       23,  &c. 
Costume  in  early  Greek  ivories     44 
Crucifixes        .         .         .         .107 
,,         in  Spanish  Place        .    108 
Cup,  or  vase,  in  British  museum     46 
Cushions,  the  meaning  in  con- 
sular diptychs      .         .         -25 

David  and  Bathsheba  on  combs,  &c.  67 
Decline  of  art  in  the  first  four 

centuries      .     2 1 
,,  after  Constan  tine   26 

,,  after    sixth  cen- 

tury    .         .     44 
Destruction  of  religious  objects 

in  the  sixteenth  century        .   108 

Diptych  of  Boethius         •         .     29 

,,       at  Brescia  . 

, ,       of  Compiegne 

,,       ecclesiastical       .         .     37 


IVORIES. 


12- 


Diptych    ecclesiastical  —  their 
purpose        .         .         .         . 
,,       with  Greek  inscriptions 
„       mutilated  and  palimp- 
sest 
, ,       of  Justinian 
,,       found  in  Transylvania, 
Domestic  scenes 

,,         works  in  ivory  . 
Draughtsmen 

Dress  and  decorations  of  consuls 
on  diptychs 

Ecclesiastical  works  in  ivory 
Egyptian  ivories 
English  ivories         .         .    Ii6 
Etruscan  ivories 


"Familia"  of  chessmen  . 
Feast  of  Fools. 
Fejervary  collection 
Flabellum  in  inventories  . 

,,         of  Theodolinda 

,,  its  use  . 
Forgeries  in  ivory  . 
Fossil  ivory     . 

Grecian  ivories 

Handle  of  fan. 

,,       of  holy  water  sprinkler 

,,       of  whip 
Horns,  for  hunting . 

,,      tenure 

Iconoclast  fanatics  . 
Identification       of       consular 

diptychs 
Importance  of  works  in  ivory 
Improvement      in     art     after 

seventh  century    . 
Ivory,  African  and  Asiatic 

,,      its  characteristics  . 

,,      mode  of  softening . 

,,      much  employed  in  14th 
century 


PAGE 

40 
38 

39 
38 
23 
67 
52 
81 

25 

47 

14 

120 

19 

79 

33 

121 

95 

95 

94 

118 

2 

16 

86 
96 
96 

"3 
114 

44 

26 
22 

45 
o 
I 


114 


VAGE 

Ivory,  variations  of  colour       .       5 

Jehan  Nicolle.  ..  .  .  Ii7 
Jewish  ivories.  .  .  '13 
Jupiter,  at  Olympia  .         .19 

Ladies  riding  .  .  .  '75 
Legends  on  consular  diptych, 

coloured  red  •         .         .26 

List  of  consular  diptychs .  .  28 
Lycoris,  described  .         .         -34 

Mammoth  ivory       ...       2. 

Manumission  of  slaves     .  .     25 

Marriage  caskets     .         .  .64. 

Meyer  collection      .         .  .120 

"Meyne,"  its  meaning    .  .     79 

Minerva,  of  the  Parthenon  .     18 

Mirrors  .         .         .         •  •     1^ 

,,       in  illuminations  .  .     73 

Moorish  ivories        .         .  .   iiS 

Morris  dancers         .         .  .68 

Nineveh  ivories  restored .         .       6 

Oliphant,  explained  •         .113 

Open-work  in  ivory  .         .     63 

,,  other  examples      .   115 

Pastoral  staff,  with  inscription.     88 
,,  not  used  by  the 

Pope     .         .     89 
,,  of  great  rarity    .     90 

,,  of  St.  Bernard  . 

.,  ordered  in  Sarum 

pontifical       .     89 
,,  of  wood     .         .     87 

Pausanias,    account   of    Greek 

statues        .        I7>  "8 
,,         believed  ivory  to  be 

horn  .         .  .19 

Pax  inscriptions  .  .  -93 
,,  inventories  .  .  •  93 
,,  late  use  in  England  .  .  94 
,,  ordered  in  Sarum  missal  .  9 1 
,,    its  use       .         .         .         •     91 


124 


IVORIES. 


PAGE 

Pax,  why  disused    .         .         -93 

,,    of  wood  .         .         .         -93 

Pieta,  of  Michael  Angelo         .    103 

,,     in  British  museum  .    1 02 

Plaques  of  ivory,  large  size       .       3 

,,       not  originally  diptychs    42 

Prehistoric  ivories   ...       6 

Pugillares        .         .         .         .109 

Pyx,  in  inventories  .         .         -57 

„    of  St.  Mennas.         .         .     60 

,,    various  uses     .         .         .60 

Ravenna  chair  .  .  '41 
Retable  of  Poissy  .  .  •  ^5 
Roman  ivories  .         .         .21 

,,      ivory  sculiDtors  exempt 
from     certain     obli 
gations 
Romance  of  the  Rose 
,,       subjects    . 


Seals  in  British  Museum  . 
,,    illustrating  statuettes 
Serpent,  as  an  emblem     . 
Shrine,  explained    . 

,,      in  illuminations    . 
Siege  of  the  Castle  of  Love 
Spanish  ivories 
Statuette,  coloured  . 


21 

63 
62 

III 

98 
85 
51 
99 
74 
118 

105 


PAGE 

Statuette  in  inventories  .  .100 

,,         the  largest  known  .   loi 

,,         opening  on  hinges  .    lOO 

, ,         under  canopies.  .  •  98 

,,         very  fine  examples  .     97 

Style  of  English  art.         .  .116 

"  Symmachorvm,"  the  omitted 

word    .         .         •         •  •     35 

Tabernacles,  at  Lincoln   .  .     99 

Tables  explained     .         .  .Ill 

Tablets  of  Moutier  ...     34 

,,       of  Sens         .         .  .32 

,,       for  writing  on       .  .109 

"  Tan-tabl,"  its  meaning.  .     8l 

Tau,  explained         .         .  .84 

,,    rarity      .         .         .  -85 

Toreutic,  its  meaning       .  .17 

Triptychs  explained  .  -51 

,,         in  illuminations  .     99 

,,         mentioned  by   Anas- 

tasius     .         .  -5^ 

Tusks,  size  and  weight    .  .       4 

Veroli  casket,  probable  date    .     55 
Volute,  with  double  subject      .     87 

Webb  collection       .         .         .121 
A\Tiip-handles  ...     96 


CHARLES   DICKENS   AND   EVANS,    CRYSTAL   PALACE   PRESS. 


SOUTH  KENSINGTON  MUSEUM 
ART    HANDBOOKS. 

EDITED    BY    WILLIAM    MASKELL. 


/.  TEXTILE  FABRICS.  By  the  Very  Rev.  Daniel 
Rock,  D.D.    With  numerous  Woodcuts. 

2,  IVORIES:  ANCIENT  AND  MEDIEVAL.  By 
Willia;m  Maskell.     With  numerous  Woodcuts. 

J.  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  FURNITURE  AND 
WOODWORK.  By  JoHN  Hungerford  Pollen.  With 
numerous  Woodcuts. 

^.  MAIOLICA.     By   C.  Drury  E.   Fortnum,  F.S.A. 

With  numerous  Woodcuts. 

5.  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS.     By  Carl  Engel. 

With  numerous  Woodcuts. 


*^ 


L/J 


UC  SOUT-HERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA      000  278  324    9 


